He Supreme Court decided by a 6-2 majority to reject the application for certification submitted by the Mayor of San Juan, Miguel Romero, to accept and reject the call for elections by the candidate The Citizen Victory Movement, Manuel Natal.
Romero, din The new progressive party, sought the highest forum to establish that Natal did not comply with the conditions of the Electoral Code for the appropriate location and thus rejected the appeal filed on January 14 without entering into the merits.
“There is no room for both in the application for inter-jurisdictional certification and in the urgent motion to stay the proceedings before the Court of First Instance submitted by the petitioner Miguel A. Romero Lugo,” the Supreme Court ruling reads.
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Natal, who publicly pointed out that Romero was “hiding” so as not to be called, said he had followed all the appropriate procedural procedures so that the case could be approached on the merits.
The San Juan Court judge is participating in the appeal case Anthony Cuevas.
In the resolution of the Supreme Court, the associate judge Edgardo Rivera Garcia he uttered a different expression, which was joined by the judge Mildred Pabón Charneco.
‘I consider that, given the importance of this issue and the public interest that pervades the controversy before us, as well as the declaration of lack of jurisdiction, Ha Lugar would have provided it. is certified. Although we certainly recognize that the controversy is a procedural one, I think it raises a new issue and deserves the earliest final award. In addition, we believe that this is a matter of urgency, as it is imperative that this Court act to give certainty to the process affecting officials certified by the State Electoral Commission and who are already holding office in the positions for which they have been elected. “, Said Rivera García.
Natal’s challenge, in short, claims that there are 6,593 early and absent “illegal” municipal votes, either because the number exceeds the total number of voters in these ways, because they do not have a tract highlighted in the minutes or because they lacked the fold typical of ballot papers that are placed in an envelope.
Natal lost the election by 3,465 votes, with Unit 77 – where most early voting mechanisms are counted in each section – decisive in the outcome. The former representative requested, as a remedy, a new election among the voters of that unit.
Candidate Barranquitas resigns
On the other hand, Luis Daniel Colon Santos, who aspires to be mayor of Barranquitas for People’s Democratic Party, withdrew from the challenge he posed against the winner of the election, the new progressive Elliot Colon Blanco.
‘In view of the motion for notice of withdrawal submitted by the applicant, this Court declares it Ha Lugar. As a result, a withdrawal decision is issued “, indicates the sentence of judge Cuevas.
According to the portal State Electoral CommissionColon Blanco retained Barranquilla City Hall with 165 votes to Colon Santos.