PDP president: Legitimacy of vote must be guaranteed in any Electoral Code amendments

“We cannot continue to treat the [State Electoral] commission like just another agency,” Popular Democratic Party President Jesús Manuel Ortiz González said. “There has to be a balance, open processes, participation and a guarantee that each vote that is counted is the vote that was cast.”

By The Star Staff

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) President Jesús Manuel Ortiz González on Thursday emphasized the need to guarantee the legitimacy of the vote in any amendments to Puerto Rico’s Electoral Code.

“What the governor and his party have to say is whether he is willing to sign a measure that takes away the NPP’s [New Progressive Party’s] absolute control of the administration of the State Elections Commission,” Ortiz González said.

“Here we cannot continue to treat the commission like just another agency,” the PDP president insisted. “There has to be a balance, open processes, participation and a guarantee that each vote that is counted is the vote that was cast.”

Ortiz González’s remarks came after Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Wednesday expressed confidence that the PDP leadership will agree to amend the Electoral Code. Pierluisi maintains that if the opportunity to do so is not seized, it will be a loss for the PDP.

“We are not going to lend ourselves to the approval of a superficial measure and then the same problems of 2020 will arise, but now with the responsibility of the Popular Party,” Ortiz González warned. The PDP leader stressed the need to address the core issues of the electoral code.