Stating that there was still time to carry out a manual count of the vote at the presidential, legislative and municipal levels on Sunday, 15 May 2016, Central Electoral Board (JCE) judge Eddy Olivares contradicted the president of the general election organizing entity, Roberto Rosario. Olivares said that Rosario was speaking on a personal level when he said there was no time to make changes in the electoral schedule, as reported in El Nacional. He said that the JCE member judges had not debated the issue.
Olivares says that in previous elections votes have been counted manually and the only new process this year is the electronic count. He says he sees no reason why the count should not be carried out as in the past as all the equipment and materials will be at the polling stations.
Olivares made the comments yesterday, Thursday 5 May 2016 on the El Despertador TV show on Color Vision presented by Miguel Guerrero.
“The JCE cannot be closed to suggestions by the political parties, or be uncompromising or intolerant. It should share its decisions with the parties so they can be more transparent and credible with the public,” he stated.
Rosario’s decision was backed by the ruling PLD party, but not by the opposition parties.
Olivares said that the 2016 election process was marked by a serious deterioration within the political parties’ internal democracy. He pointed out that most of the candidates had not been elected by party members. He said the situation should serve as a lesson and the political parties must pass the Political Parties Bill that would regulate their operation. The bill was submitted by the JCE but stagnated in the PRD-majority congress and then in the PLD-majority congress.
