NPP electoral commissioner to send governor nominations to chair SEC

New Progressive Party Electoral Commissioner Aníbal Vega Borges (Facebook via New Progressive Party)

By The Star Staff

New Progressive Party (NPP) Electoral Commissioner Aníbal Vega Borges announced Tuesday that he will send Gov. Jenniffer González Colón the nominations of Judge Jorge Rafael Rivera Rueda as chairman of the State Elections Commission (SEC) and Cyndia Irizarry Casiano as alternate chair, after failing to reach consensus with the electoral commissioners of the Popular Democratic Party and Puerto Rican Independence Party.

“We would have liked this decision to have been made by mutual agreement within the Commission,” Vega Borges said in a written statement. “However, we are continuing the work to ensure that we soon have a chair and alternate chair who will steer the reins in the right direction, and that we begin working as quickly as possible on all the countless processes we have ahead of us to ensure the people of Puerto Rico have lawful and orderly upcoming elections, strictly following the provisions of our electoral code.”

The governor, meanwhile, stated at a press conference that “Now, what the law mandates is that I, as governor, have the power to send those appointments to the Legislative Assembly, those or any other.”

“However, I’m inclined to send the two submitted by the electoral commissioner and, with the approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate, be able to put an end to this SEC issue,” González Colón said. “Work needs to be done there; we need to update it. I don’t want us to have the same problem with the machines, I don’t want us to have the same problem with the lists, right? That work has to start. So, I would be submitting to the Legislature the same two appointments that were proposed by the electoral commissioner.”

“... I trust that our House and Senate delegations will put an end to the uncertainty of having an administrative structure for the SEC and confirm these two nominations,” the governor added. “I don’t think we should have any problems with that, because prior to this, I had asked the [leaders] of the legislative bodies, who are also the vice presidents of the NPP, to make recommendations on candidates. I evaluated and interviewed several candidates for these positions and determined that these two people had the best qualifications to do the job.”

Article 3.7 of the Electoral Code stipulates that the two positions must be appointed no later than July 1 of the year following a general election, which adds urgency to the process. The governor will have 15 calendar days to send the names to the Legislature.

Vega Borges noted that on March 17 he formally notified the other electoral commissioners of his selections. Both parties, who had 30 days to reach a consensus, expressed their opposition in advance.