The new legislators are invested

A total of 75 lawmakers were sworn in this morning in ceremonies nuanced by the protocols required due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first ceremony took place in the Senate and minutes later was the House of Representatives.

Three elected lawmakers could not be sworn in today: Rosamar Trujillo Plumey, popular for Humacao district, Luis Raúl Torres, representative for San Juan’s 2nd district, and Penepé representative Néstor Alonso Vega, who is on bail after being charged with corruption at the federal level. It was reported yesterday that Alonso Vega could not be removed from office because he did not send his financial report to the State Electoral Commission (EEC).

Trujillo Plumey was also unable to swear this morning due to a delay in providing his financial report, his spokesman Daphne Flores explained. He pointed out that the certified public accountant responsible for preparing the information to be delivered to the EEC had not obtained the necessary document due to the closure of government offices during the Christmas period.

Flores indicated that Trujillo Plumey could be sworn in later that day.

Torres asked to be excused for a medical condition, he said The new day. He said he would be sworn in at the Capitol on Tuesday.

The oaths, taken by the legislators en bloc, were taken by the secretaries of the legislative bodies Manuel Torres, in the Senate and Carlos Fajardo, in the case of the House of Representatives. Fajardo was secretary after being recently selected after the death of former secretary Elizabeth Stuart. The oaths were read after the list of elected candidates who met the requirements of the Electoral Code was placed on the record and a roll call was made.

Secretary Torres highlighted in his short message the historic participation of women in the Senate, where they will be the majority, occupying 14 of the 27 seats. The legislature will also be represented by five parties.

“Your challenge is monumental,” Torres said. “My request is to keep this commitment until the last day in the Body.”

Some elected officials were accompanied by a relative in the chamber, as in the case of the penepés Henry Neumann and William Villafañe, who participated with their children. Each legislator could have two companions in the stands.

In the room, where the representative Jorge Alfredo Rivera Segarra read an invocation, a limit was set by one companion per elected official, but they were alone in the room.

With the election result, the People’s Democratic Party has a majority of 26 members in the House, but in the Senate the community has guaranteed only a plurality of 12 seats.

The popular delegation in the House increased, as a result of the elections, from 15 members to 26, while the penepé was reduced from 34 to 21. The novelty in these last elections was the selection of four legislators by accumulating the Citizen Victory Movement, two on the legislative body and the entry into the Legislature of another new political party, Proyecto Dignidad, which secured two seats in both bodies.

The popular majority in the House is anticipating the January 11 election, during the inaugural session, of Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez as the new president. In the case of the Senate, José Luis Dalmau Santiago aspires to secure the presidency on the same day, but it is still unclear whether he would face the challenge of another legislator from another party after the PPD to reach 12 seats against 10 in the New Party progressive.

The MVC delegations from both legislative bodies announced yesterday that they will not intervene in the election of the presidents.