The saga of the election of Guánica’s mayor ended with a verdict Appellate courtWho kept Ismail “Titi” Rodriguez Ramos, From People’s Democratic Party, In his municipal executive capacity, shall prevail in Supreme court With a 4-4 draw.
On March 3, a panel of the appeals court upheld the appeals court’s decision Court of First Instance Which, in short, concluded that State Elections Commission (CEE)After a census conducted between January 14 and 15, the applicant added via direct nomination Edgardo Cruz Feliz 38 pre-awarded votes.
Cruz Velez stated, in his appeal to both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, that the Supreme Judge Rebecca de Leon Rios It was a mistake to resolve, through a summary judgment, Rodriguez Ramos’ claim that the duplication of 38 ballot papers was clear and unambiguous, based on the minutes of the European Economic Committee meeting.
We recommend the following:
However, the group of four judges who favored the appeal ruling concluded that there were no factual disputes that prevented Judge de Leon Rios from dismissing the evidence based on the evidence prior to her consideration.
“Although there was no hearing as such, the truth is that the parties had the opportunity to present all the evidence in their power to the court to substantiate their claims, and some parties did not, and others did not,” expresses the conformity opinion issued by Before the co-judge Angel Colon PerezJoined by the judges Raphael Martinez TorresAnd the Roberto Filiberty Centron And the President of the Court, Mighty Urunos Rodriguez.
“ Although the President of the European Economic Community may suspect that the denunciations – which were discussed during the early hours of January 15, 2021 – were not in the corresponding bag, it is disturbing to us that all the evidence for the crime was It was ignored. And what follows – as indicated in the annexes to which the definitions of the proceedings of the main forum refer – that the aforementioned votes have already been counted, detailed and added in the initial report issued on December 21, 2021, ”adds the summary.
The possibility of relations in the Supreme Court has remained constant since the judge’s retirement on December 24 Annabelle Rodriguez Rodriguez, Whose vacancy has not yet been filled by the ruler Pedro Pierluese.
At the end of last year, the former ruler Wanda Vasquez Appointed judge of appeal Maritieri Brignoni For the chair at the top, but he pulled the designation at Senate The new progressive majority was preparing to cancel the appointment.
In a dissenting opinion of the assistant judge Luis Estrella MartinezSigned by your peers Mildred Papon Charnico s Eric Kolthoff KarabaluIt was said that “as the ultimate guarantor of citizenship’s confidence in democracy, this court had a duty to reinforce a definitive answer to this question, which can only be achieved if we reverse the opinion of the first instance court to issue a minor ruling from this controversy with an urgent ruling.”
Estrella Martinez said that the Supreme Court, by upholding the rulings of the Preliminary Forum and Appeals and rejecting a hearing, had given “priority to a series of incomplete schedules and minutes over the will of the electorate.”
Today, the edge has been broken in favor of the rigor and formality that mortally wounded Guanica’s democracy. This, then, without a doubt, the summary settlement of the case, from a legal point of view, did not go in favor of Mr. Rodriguez Ramos and did not represent an adequate balance between the fair separation of this dispute and the law Of the party that challenges his day to be in court, “added Estrella Martinez.
Assistant judge Edgardo Rivera Garcia It also disagreed with the final ruling and stated that “she would have issued an appeal and ruled that a hearing on the merits of the case before the court of first instance was appropriate.”
By casting 38 votes from Cruz Velez, Rodriguez Ramos won 2,384 votes, with only an 11th advantage over the former Army. The recount in January, which at the time gave him the advantage, was the product of a previous Supreme Court ruling that Cruise Feliz should be granted votes even if the voter had not checked the box accompanying the Candidate Column Live.