The Supreme Electoral Court ordered a halt to a commercial advertisement for the New Ideas Party, considering it an alleged violation of Article 70, letter D, of the Political Parties Law, which states that national symbols are prohibited from being used in advertising or election campaigning.

Likewise, the Supreme Electoral Court ordered the initiation of ex officio electoral sanctions procedures and ordered that precautionary measures be taken for the New Ideas Party and its representatives.

The website on which the decision was made was posted on Twitter by Mr Xavier Zablah Bukele, President and Legal Representative of Nuevas Ideas. In it, the national flag is used.

“It is tentatively noted that the aforementioned video content aims to influence the intention to obtain electoral support for the political party for new ideas and in it the use of national symbols,” as stated in the TSE order on February 2, 2021.

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The Electoral Institute notes that if the suspension or broadcast of the video is not ordered to be suspended, this may constitute a violation of “the guarantee of free elections and the principle of fairness in competition.”

He adds that electoral advertising “by containing an element prohibited by law may unduly affect the fairness of the electoral competition and the regularity of the process,” for which the process of imposing administrative penalties ex officio is initiated and the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, which is guarantor of the legitimacy of the process, is informed to also verify compliance For precautionary measures ordered by the court.

As part of the measures, Xavier Zablah Bukele was ordered to remove the stain from his Twitter account, as well as the New Ideas Party to refrain from using patriotic symbols in its election advertising and suspending broadcasts on any television channel, cable signal, or digital medium directing it.

TSE also requires the Presidency of the Republic a detailed report on immediate production, designation, and dispatch period, among others. It also orders the media to send a report within the same period of time on compliance with this decision.

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