The Supreme Court leaves in the hands of the first instance the certificate of appeal presented by the candidate “registration” in Guánica

The Supreme Court has ruled that there is no room for an application for intra-jurisdictional certification of the candidate by direct nomination to the mayor of Guánica, Edgardo Cruz Velez, to participate in the examination of the challenge presented today to cancel the previous certification that the popular candidate Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez Ramos obtained from State Electoral Commission (EEC), so the case is now in the hands of the Court of First Instance.

“After examining the petition for inter-jurisdictional certification submitted by the petitioner, as the Court is equally divided, it is declared inapplicable,” the High Court’s resolution reads.

The appeal was submitted to the courts, as stipulated in the Electoral Code, after the EEC issued a new preliminary certification. declaring Cruz Vélez the winner in response to the Supreme Court’s order to count all votes for the candidate on those ballot papers in which his name appears, whether or not the voter ticked the box corresponding to the direct nomination.

“We do not have to certify in advance. The Supreme Court cannot become the forum of the first instance, at the whim of the parties “, said the associate judge Rafael Martínez Torres, in an expression joined by the associate judge Roberto Feliberti Cintrón. The magistrate clearly specified that the examination was the appropriate step.

“The main forum is fully capable of resolving this call with the urgency it deserves,” he added.

The judge also stressed that Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez Ramos is very likely to challenge the new certification issued by the EEC, so the Supreme Court must “allow the primary court to receive the appropriate evidence and decide the controversy.”

For his part, Associate Judge Luis Estrella Martínez stressed, in a special statement joined by Associate Judges Erick Kolthoff Caraballo, Edgardo Rivera García and Mildred Pabón Charneco, that he had taken a different action “in the face of the democratic urgency of experiencing the city of Guánica. “I believe that simple formalities and technicalities cannot stifle or unnecessarily delay the implementation of the will of the Guánica electorate,” he said.

According to official EEC certification, Cruz Vélez won by 2,411 votes to 2,356 for Rodríguez, which was put into office last Monday using as a basis the previous certification provided by the EEC and without waiting for the decision of the Supreme Court that an electoral process was before its examination.

With information from journalist Gloria Ruiz Kuilan.