The president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Julio César Castaños Guzmán, has announced that the board of the JCE will meet “at the appropriate time” to decide what steps to take following the report from the IT Department that states that the equipment used in the last elections cannot be used for the 2020 elections. This equipment cost US$39.7 million.
Castaños Guzmán said that the decision of the board of the JCE will depend on feedback from the Chamber of Accounts, the government department in charge of auditing government operations, as well as reports from lawyers and technicians at the JCE itself.
Speaking for the Revolutionary Modern Party (PRM), Milagros Ortiz Bosch suggested that the case should have legal ramifications.
The president of the Chamber of Accounts, Hugo Álvarez, confirmed that they had carried out an audit at the JCE and the equipment bought to be used during the 2016 elections but he did not share information on the findings with the press. He said they sent the JCE a preliminary report and that the members of the JCE have ten days in which to respond prior to their issuing the final report.
The scandal came to light following a report by the IT Department of the JCE that indicated the machines have serious errors and cannot be used in the future, despite their high cost. The report states that around 58% of the votes in the 2016 elections had to be counted manually, showing that the machines did not even work in 2016.
The former president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Roberto Rosario, is keeping mute about the scandal of the electronic equipment used in the last elections that were purchased for US$39.7 million.
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Diario Libre
El Nacional
Hoy
9 November 2017
