The saga of the election for mayor of Guánica has ended after the ruling Court of Appeal, which kept Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez Ramos, de People’s Democratic Party, as a municipal executive, prevails in Supreme Court with a tie 4-4.
On March 3, a panel of the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling Court of first instance which, in short, concluded that State Electoral Commission (EEC), after a number which he carried out between 14 and 15 January, the applicant added by direct nomination Edgardo Cruz Velez 38 votes previously cast.
Cruz Vélez, in his appeals to both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, stated that the Superior Judge Rebecca De Leon Rios It was wrong to resolve, in a summary judgment, the statement of Rodríguez Ramos that, based on the minutes of the EEC, the duplication of the count of the 38 ballots was unequivocal.
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However, the group of four judges who favored the judgment of the appeal concluded that there were no factual controversies that would prevent Judge De León Ríos from settling on the basis of evidence before his examination.
“Although no such hearing took place, the truth is that the parties had the opportunity to present to the court all the evidence in their power to prove their allegations, some parties did not, others did not,” said the compliance opinion issued. by the associate judge Angel Colon Perez, which was joined by magistrates Rafael Martinez Torres, Roberto Feliberti Cintron and the President, Maite Oronoz Rodríguez.
“Even if the President of the EEC could have the suspicion that the reported facts – and discussed in the early hours of January 15, 2021 – were not in the proper briefcase, it is more alarming for us that all evidence of the crime was ignored. it follows – as indicated in the annexes to which the determinations of the facts of the primary forum refer – that the said votes have already been counted, awarded and added to the Preliminary Report of 21 December 2021 “, the document adds.
The possibility of links to the Supreme Court has been a constant since the withdrawal of the judge on December 24 Anabelle Rodriguez Rodriguez, whose vacancy has not yet been filled by the governor Pedro Pierluisi.
Late last year, the former governor Wanda Vazquez called the appellate judge Maritere Brignoni for the seat of the Supreme Court, but withdrew the appointment when Senate of a new progressive majority was preparing to win the appointment.
In the divergent opinion of the associate judge Luis Estrella Martinez, signed by your colleagues Mildred Pabón Charneco Yes Erick Kolthoff Caraballo, it is argued that ‘as final guarantors of the confidence of citizens in democracy, this Court had a duty to promote a categorical answer to this question, which could be achieved only if we reversed the opinion of the Court of First Instance for an easy ruling on this controversies by summary judgment ”.
Confirming the decisions of the primary forum and the appeal and refusing a trial hearing, said Estrella Martínez, the Supreme Court granted “the primacy of a series of tables and incomplete minutes on the will of the electorate.”
“Democracy in Guánica has erupted in favor of the severity and formalism that has mortally wounded today. It then, no doubt, that the resolution of the case by way of summary proceedings, as a matter of law, did not proceed in favor of Mr Rodríguez Ramos and did not strike an appropriate balance between the fair settlement of this dispute and the law of the challenging party. “, added Estrella Martínez.
Associate Judge Edgardo Rivera Garcia it also disagreed with the final judgment and stated that “it would have appealed and ruled that a hearing on the merits before the Court of First Instance was appropriate”.
By deducting the 38 votes from Cruz Vélez, Rodríguez Ramos won by 2,384 votes, for an advantage of only 11 over the former military. The report, which took place in January and gave him the advantage at the time, was the product of a previous Supreme Court ruling that decided Cruz Vélez to receive votes even if the voter did not check the box that accompanies the nomination column directly.