By The Star Staff
Popular Democratic Party (PDP) President Jesús Manuel Ortiz González on Saturday rejected the appointment of Judge Jorge Rivera Rueda as president of the State Elections Commission, saying it shows that the governor doesn’t take electoral matters seriously.
“The appointment of Judge Jorge Rivera Rueda as chairman of the State Elections Commission, despite the rejection of the Senate last year, and the electoral commissioners of four parties recently, not only shows that Governor Pierluisi does not take electoral matters seriously, but he does not care that the appointee lent himself to vote in a precinct where he did not belong in 2020,” Ortiz González said. “A person who was able to violate the electoral code cannot lead the highest electoral forum.
“Rivera Rueda is not the SEC chairman that Puerto Rico needs right now,” he added.
Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago also said previously that he does not support the appointment.
“Once again, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi fails to comply with the mandate of the people who ordered, through their votes, that a party other than his own lead the legislative branch,” he said in a written statement issued late Friday. “By sending an appointment for the chairmanship of the State Elections Commission without having previously mediated a process of dialogue and deference, the constitutional provision of advice and consent of the Senate is violated. That, I reiterate, is unacceptable.”
“Not only does it do a disservice to Puerto Rican democracy, but it also crushes those who appoint, since it comes before the Senate as an attempt at imposition instead of a product of dialogue and consensus that prevails in the constitutional mandate of advice and consent,” Dalmau Santiago added.
Minutes after issuing the above statement, Dalmau Santiago announced the cancellation of a public hearing in which the appointment of Yanira Raíces Vega as secretary of the Department of Education would be considered.
The Senate president noted that a new date for taking up Raíces Vega’s appointment would be announced soon. The public hearing had been scheduled for today at 10 a.m. in the Leopoldo Figueroa Carreras Hall in the Capitol.