The embattled chief of the Central Electoral Board, Ram?n Morel Cerda, has accused the suspended Secretary General of the organization of practicing witchcraft. He said that Antonio Lockward Atiles had ?been giving us problems for a long time,? and accused him of forging information in a report on the irregular use of the archives by employees of the electoral board. While some people said that Lockward Atiles? suspension was no more than a product of Morel Cerda?s infamous rages, the electoral boss said that ?if you have never been near the Secretary General, perhaps you wouldn?t know this? But ask around if there weren?t a bunch of icons on Lockward?s desk, which I ordered to have taken out, you know? These clearly indicated that he was practicing witchcraft at the very heart of the Electoral Board…?
The current mess at the Electoral Board began when Lockward Artiles sent a report to the head judges of the various areas of the Board, saying he was worried because certain employees of the Board were going in and out of the archives during and after office hours. The report was addressed to Morel Cerda, in his capacity of JCE president, and its judges, Nelson G?mez and Salvador Ramos, who are the respective heads of the administrative and litigious chambers of the electoral court in charge of organizing presidential, congressional and municipal elections in the Dominican Republic.
El Caribe newspaper attributes the details known about the report to ?reliable sources?. Morel Cerda was also placed in the public eye after it was revealed that two of his children are working at the Electoral Board.