The opening of the 30 bags of competition for the position of mayor of Guánica began on Thursday in the building of the Operations Center in State Election Commission (Central and Eastern Europe), but at the present time the formal confirmation has not been provided to four of the five electoral commissioners, stating the number of votes each candidate received, which should have been the basis for the official certification of Ismail “Titi” Rodriguez as the winner. .

“We all work with the numbers released based on minutes, but it’s not the final certification. Yesterday OSIPE (Office of the European Economic Community Information and Electronic Processing System) pledged to provide a so-called counting record to every polling station to get the real numbers, but the ideal model is the testimony one should know clearly, said Electoral Commissioner of the People’s Democratic Party, Gerardo “Tonito” Cruz.

His counterpart from Puerto Rico’s Independence Party, Roberto Evan Aponte, said that after meeting yesterday to discuss the rules governing vote counting today, he has sought confirmation from the EEC alternate secretary, Felipe Velasquez. He said that this morning they gave him a certificate dated December 23 in which the winner of the competition, depending on the number of candidates, would be the nominee by direct nomination, Edgardo Cruz Velez.

“Regarding this process, to open bags, it is necessary to obtain a specified number of votes for each of the candidates and this is not available. We analyze some numbers blindly. What are the approval numbers for the popular party candidate? We do not know. It’s madness and why all this secrecy. This is what makes you suspicious, “Abbunt asked.

“I have not received a certificate from the president to explain the number of votes for Edgardo Cruz.”

The electoral commissioner of the Victoria Ciudadana movement, Olvin Valentin, lodged the same complaint.

“The only document I had was the one that put Edgardo Cruz on top. But then that changed. Valentine said these new numbers were not provided.”

He stressed that they do not know what the subtle difference in votes is between each candidate running for mayor of Guánica.

However, the electoral commissioner for the New Progressive Party, Hector Joaquín Sanchez, said his counterparts were not right. He said that official certification had already been handed over to all election commissioners via email.

“I have the evidence,” he said, but Sanchez has yet to provide this facility with the certificate and e-mail.

The vote count in Guánica comes today after the Supreme Court ordered the EEC to count all votes cast by the voter on behalf of Edgardo Cruz Vélez regardless of whether or not he marked an X on the direct nomination box.

Central and Eastern Europe recognized Rodriguez as the winner last December, but it was initially revealed that he had won by 24 votes and later by 52.