Tatito Hernández remains out, for now, of the controversy over Seal 3 of San Juan

The President of the House of Representatives, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez, announced this afternoon that he will wait for the resolution of the court case brought by the candidate for Precinct 3 of the Citizen Victory Movement (MVC), Eva Prats, before taking any legislative determination, including the possibility of creating a special commission to deal with the controversy.

Yesterday, the representative for MVC, Mariana Nogales Molinelli, asked Hernández Montañez in a letter to create a special commission to resolve the situation. Nogales Molinelli is covered by Article 10.17 of the Electoral Code of Puerto Rico which states that the Senate and the Chamber will be the sole judges of the legal capacity of their respective members, the validity of the acts and the scrutiny of the election of its members.

Prats was defeated in the election by Juan Oscar Morales, of the New Progressive Party. Morales already swore.

“Ms. Prats raises the existence of serious irregularities and the possible commission of crimes at different stages of the last election cycle. These irregularities are imputed both to the State Election Commission and to individuals who intervened in the Specifically, Ms. Prats challenges the modalities of early voting and absent voting to establish that there is sufficient evidence to support a change in the election result for Precinct 3, “said Hernández Montañez.

“At this time, the House of Representatives will grant full deference to the Judicial Branch, which will have the opportunity to examine the available evidence and the arguments presented by the parties.. However, this legislative body will be attentive and vigilant about the development of these events and will not give in to its constitutional powers. Therefore, if the historic moment so requires, we will be ready to start a public and transparent process that safeguards the rights of all parties involved, “he added.

Prats argues that in the election in which Morales was favored there was fraud “in the ballots and ballots which represents the unquestionable fact of the existence of a greater number of ballots allotted than the voters validly registered in Unit 77 d ‘this representative district’.

There were “fraudulent, culpable, negligent, and contrary to the applicable constitution, law, and regulations irregularities, which permeated and invalidated the elections of Representative District No. 3,” reads part of the lawsuit.

Earlier this afternoon, Penepé minority spokesman Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Núñez described Nogales Mollinelli’s request as “electoral extremism.”

Méndez Núñez also maintained, in written statements, that the neo-progressive delegation will fight any attempt to use the Legislature to silence the will of the people, expressed freely and democratically at the polls.

“The people of San Juan spoke clearly and forcefully, choosing the company Juan Oscar Morales as the representative of District # 3 and Miguel Romero as its new mayor. There is no doubt these results, however, the aspirants of the MVC in these places have insisted on trying, because they will not succeed, to sow doubts about the results, doubts where there are none.Juan Oscar won by over 130 votes and Miguel by 5,000. We have colleagues who were not favored this time by less than 70 votes and no one has raised complaints about the process, because they know that these are the results.It is enough to play electoral extremism, this is very dangerous in a democracy and should not be allowed, ”the PNP leader pointed out in the lower house.

“I will make this very clear to everyone, we will not allow the Legislature to be used to undermine the will of an electorate, this is not going to happen. The PNP will defend, until the last consequences, the sacred vote. In a democracy the sovereign is the people and he has already spoken. That the minimum majority of the Democratic People’s Party in the House of Representatives does not dare to try to change results through dark commissions or excuses, because they have several representatives seated must prevail for less than Juan Oscar, “added Méndez Núñez.