Delegates for 14 political parties were at the Central Electoral Board (JCE) to protest the unilateral setting of a new date by the electoral body. The municipal elections are being rescheduled after a glitch in the e-voting system resulted in the canceling of the municipal election on the same day of the election, Sunday, 16 February 2020.
The plenary of the JCE had met on Monday and announced the election would now take place on Sunday, 15 March. In the meeting with political delegates to review the e-voting situation and decide on the suspension of the municipal election, it had been agreed by consensus that a new meeting with the political delegates would be called to discuss the modality of the election and the date.
The opposition parties are demanding that the JCE hold a public hearing with the participation of international electoral observer missions, media and the political parties to discuss, among other matters, the independent investigation into what happened. The politicians want the International Foundation of Electoral Systems and the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States and the local civic watchdog group Participacion Ciudadana to participate in the investigation to determine the reasons leading to the suspension of the municipal elections on 16 February.
The Central Electoral Board (JCE) had called the technical delegates of the political parties to a meeting at 4pm to discuss the new printed ballots. As reported, the opposition political parties say the investigation and discussion of the new date for the election should have been on the agenda.
Orlando Jorge Mera, political delegate for the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), read the document that was submitted by the 14 political parties making the request for the topics to be on the agenda of the next meeting with the JCE plenary.
The opposition political parties also want to discuss the electoral calendar, the budget and the financing for the extraordinary municipal elections.
After receiving the document on Tuesday, 18 February 2020, the JCE announced it would meet with the political parties on Wednesday.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
Hoy
Somos Pueblo
El Dia
19 February 2020