“These minutes have been taken into account for the final examination,” the EST reaffirms the finding of the ballot papers in San José Guayabal

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This mayoralty was won by Mauricio Vilanova, from ARENA, with a difference of two votes. An election expert reported that San José Guayabal’s 42 records had entered the preliminary check before the final check, as can be seen on the TSE monitoring site.

National Civil Police (PNC) reported on Wednesday the discovery of 295 ballots in a house located in the canton of El Salitre, in San José Guayabal, Cuscatlán.

According to the police report, during the inspection it was established that 98 ballot papers correspond to the Municipal Council and 103 deputies and 94 Parlacen.

“The electoral material was sent to our Technical and Scientific Police Division, for storage,” he detailed in the publication.

In this regard, sources from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) stated that they have not yet found out about the finding, but reaffirmed the veracity of the data that are recorded in the final control and, in turn, explained what in their opinion could have it happened.

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“I did the final check in the minutes, which was in the original paper which is with security measures, which was transmitted by computer, in which there were representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office, of all political parties and they were the ones who worked the final control based on those minutes, “he said.

“What I would think is that after distributing the minutes, maybe they left the package with the abandoned ballots and that’s what they found, but what they did is that I did that final check based on the original minutes. members of political parties, prosecutors, etc. they had, “he added.

The source regretted what happened and said that the return of the ballots was probably not done in a happy way.

“Maybe someone voted for them on the road, it will be the Prosecutor’s Office that will investigate the Police in this regard as well. I do not doubt the veracity of the data that are recorded in the final control “, he concluded.

For his part, TSE Magistrate Noel Orellana explained that he cannot give an official position until I receive the report from the appropriate management.

“Since the case is officially known, we will provide an EST function and, in the case of criminal liability, it will be the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) that will deduce the responsibilities that each case deserves,” he said.

However, Orellana considered that those minutes were taken into account for the final control, as the same system did not accept inconsistencies in the absence of the minutes.

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“What happens is that sometimes the receiving councils (JRV), when they are going to deliver the packages, do not return them, but we will review the situation and here would be the FGR who has to deduct the appropriate responsibilities for the JRVs , for the municipal electoral commissions (JEM) or for the departmental electoral commissions (JED), remember that we deliver the packages to the electoral commissions, each one being responsible for the chain of protection of those documents that are official ”, he said.

Election expert Malcom Cartagena also posted on Twitter that the 42 minutes (14 for each type of election) belonging to San José Guayabal entered the preliminary control, before the final control, as can be seen on the site TSE monitoring: https://monitoreo2021.tse.gob.sv/consejos-municipales/municipal/10/4/1436

“If the ballots were found, they may have been abandoned by some JRVs, but, as you can see, no document is missing,” says Cartagena.

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