Supreme Court leaves in the hands of the Court of First Instance the certification of challenge presented by the candidate “write-in” to Guánica

The Supreme Court declared that it does not belong to a request for intra-jurisdictional certification of the candidate by direct nomination to the mayor of Guánica, Edgardo Creu Vélez, So that it attends to the consideration of challenge presented today to annul the previous certification that the popular candidate Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez Ramos obtained of the State Election Commission (EEC), so that the lawsuit is now in the hands of the Court of First Instance.

“After examining the request for intra-jurisdictional certification that the petitioner filed, as the court is equally divided, it is declared inappropriate,” reads the resolution of the high forum.

The consideration of challenge was submitted to the courts, as stipulated in the Electoral Code, after the EEC issued a new preliminary certification. declaring Creu Vélez as the winner in response to the Supreme Court’s order to count all the votes in the candidate of those ballots in which his name appeared regardless of whether or not the voter marked the box corresponding to direct nomination.

“We must not certify out of time. The Supreme Court cannot become the forum of first instance, at the whim of the parties,” said Associate Judge Rafael Martinez Torres, in an expression joined by the judge. associate Roberto Feliberti Cintrón. The magistrate made it clear that the consideration of challenge submitted to the courts was the appropriate step.

“The primary forum is fully empowered to resolve this appeal with the urgency it deserves,” he added.

The judge also noted that there is a high probability that Ismael “Titi” Rodríguez Ramos will challenge the new certification issued by the EEC, so the Supreme Court must “allow the primary forum to receive the corresponding evidence and decide the controversy “.

For his part, Associate Judge Luis Estrella Martínez pointed out, in a particular expression joined by Associate Judges Erick Kolthoff Caraballo, Edgardo Rivera García and Mildred Pabón Charneco, that he had taken a different course of action “before the democratic emergency experienced by the municipality of Guánica. “I believe that mere formalisms and technicalities cannot drown or unnecessarily postpone the implementation of the will of the Guánica electorate,” he argued.

According to the official certification of the EEC, Vélez Cross prevailed with 2,411 votes against 2,356 of Rodriguez, Who swore in office last Monday using as a basis the prior certification provided by the EEC and without waiting for the determination of the Supreme Court that had before him a lawsuit of election.

With information from journalist Glòria Ruiz Kuilan.