State Electoral Commission (EEC) will issue an amended certificate later today, correcting the results of the competition for Guánica City Hall, stating whether, in fact, Edgardo Cruz Velez will become the first mayor elected by direct nomination in Puerto Rican political history.
“The usual tables have already finished their functions. Now we have the table of the alternate (commissioners) dealing with some issues from three briefcases that were waiting, to then give a purpose to the result. Currently, what is being done is evaluating a few minutes. On 30 December, which was the last day of the vote, additional votes were counted and recorded in minutes. It should be confirmed that the last number of nominations for direct nomination is the final number and that the sum of the votes that could be in these minutes has been taken into account “, the alternate President of the EEC summarized, Jessica Padilla.
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However, Padilla did not validate or disprove the statements made by both Cruz Vélez and the electoral commissioner of The New Progressive Party (PNP), Hector Joaquin Sanchez, in the sense that the applicant “won” won by at least nine votes in favor Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez Ramos, from Popular People’s Party (PPD), and who has already been sworn in as mayor of Guaniqueño.
“We have heard that expressions have been made about a prevalence of the ‘write-in’ candidate (but) until the completion of what is being worked on, we cannot certify that, in fact, these are the official results that could change what what is the candidacy for the position of mayor of Guánica “, said Padilla.
The Acting President acknowledged that with today’s exercise, Cruz Vélez would be the only person to increase the number of votes, while party candidates could suffer a reduction in their total if mixed votes are given for ex-military.
According to Commissioner Sánchez, Cruz Vélez added 27 mixed votes in which the electorate did not tick the direct nomination box, including five votes that were previously cast as complete for PPD and Rodríguez Ramos.
According to Sánchez, Cruz Vélez would finish with at least 2,390 votes, compared to 2,381 for Rodríguez Ramos.
Padilla reminded that in order to reverse the result and that Cruz Vélez could be certified mayor, the candidate himself must contest the elections tomorrow or before tomorrow, as he has already advanced Francisco Rosado Colomer, President of the EEC.
The EEC will issue an amended certification, but the document would have no practical effect without the courts validating Cruz Vélez’s application.
“The Commission does not have the power to self-correct or to self-correct. There are already some results that were certified on January 5th. If these results change, it depends on that party with an interest to contest the elections, because the commission does not have this power “, Padilla explained.
PPD local commissioner in Guánica, Joel rodriguez, this afternoon rejected the information provided by the PNP regarding the triumph of Cruz Vélez.
“We are carrying out the work as ordered by the Supreme Court and the truth is that, at the moment, the ballots to be awarded to the directly nominated candidate, Edgardo Cruz Vélez, do not exceed eleven. The process of searching for ballots with a specific sign or writing in the direct nomination column is now complete. The 14 units, 30 schools, the six schools in advance and a briefcase with the ballots that were found in other sections were checked, not only the municipal ballots, the state, legislative and plebiscite votes were checked. Only one ballot paper with the name of Edgardo Cruz Vélez was found, so any doubt that there are ballot papers that will be judged is eliminated “, argued Rodríguez.