The new legislators swear in office

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

The first ceremony was held in the Senate and minutes later it was played in the House of Representatives.

Three elected lawmakers could not be sworn in today: Rosamar Trujillo Plumey, popular for Humacao District, Luis Raul Torres, representative for District 2 of San Juan and Penepe representative Nestor Alonso Vega, who is free on bail after being criminally charged by corruption at the federal level. It was reported yesterday that Alonso Vega could not be sworn in because he did not submit his financial report to the State Election Commission (EEC).

Trujillo Plumey was also unable to take the oath this morning, also due to a delay in the delivery of his financial report, his spokesman Daphne Flowers explained. He has indicated that the authorized public accountant in charge of preparing the information to be delivered to the EEC did not get a required document due to closure of government offices during the Christmas period.

Flowers indicated that Trujillo Plumey could be sworn in later in the day.

Torres asked to be excused for a medical condition, he commented to The New Day. He said he will be sworn in Tuesday at the Capitol.

The oaths, taken by the block legislators, 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 served as 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 recorded in the record and the list was passed.

Secretary Torres highlighted in his brief message the historic participation of women in the Senate, where they will be a majority occupying 14 of 27 seats. The legislature will also have five-party representation.

“The challenge for you is monumental,” Torres said. “Command is that you keep that commitment until the last day in the Corps.”

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

In the Chamber, where Representative Jorge Alfredo Rivera Segarra read an invocation, a limit of one companion per elected official was set, but they were alone in the chamber.

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

The popular delegation in the House grew, with the result of the election, from 15 members to 26, while the penance was reduced from 34 to 21. The novelty in this last election was the selection of four legislators by accumulation of Movement Victory Citizen, two by legislative body and the entrance also in the Legislature another new political party, Project Dignity, that assured individual benches in both bodies.

The popular majority in the House anticipates the election on January 11, 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 that same day, but it is still unclear whether he would face the challenge of some other legislator from another party after the PPD get 12 seats against 10 of the New Progressive Party.

MVC delegations in two legislative bodies announced yesterday that they will not intervene in the selection of presidents.