It will be crucial to determine how the video released during the weekend that exalts the figure of the governor was funded Wanda Vázquez Garced to determine if your audit will fall on the Office of the Election Comptroller (OCE), the Examining Board of Announcements (JEA) or the Government Ethics Office (OEG), experts on electoral matters agreed yesterday.
The electoral controller, Walter Vélez, said he cannot act until he receives the report of income and expenses of the campaign committee of Vázquez Garced to know if the video is reported as a proselytizing announcement.
Before the OCE, the president’s campaign committee must demonstrate how the video was paid, the details of its production and, even, why it should not be considered a political one, Velez explained.
He clarified that, if the campaign committee indicates that the video was made by the governor in its official capacity, it would be a matter under the jurisdiction of the JEA, attached to the State Election Commission (EEC). “By submitting it there, it is within the jurisdiction of the EEC,” Velez said.
The president of the EEC, Juan E. Dávila Rivera, told El Nuevo Día that, before the JEA, there was no request to evaluate the video in line with the electoral ban.
Any announcement of any public entity must be evaluated by that supervisory body to comply with the Electoral Code, which imposes a ban to prevent the government and its instrumentalities from enhancing its image or deed with public funds. If it is breached, the JEA can impose fines of up to $ 25,000.
The controversial video shows images of the president with refugees after the earthquakes that shook the south of the island last month. In the end, the phrase “My priority is you.”
For the former election commissioner of the Democratic People’s Party Eudaldo Báez Galib, “it is not resolved” if a fine of that nature would be paid with public funds, for being the governor, or for its committee. “Although (the video) is as governor, she is a candidate,” he said.
He stressed that, through the JEA, he could be exposed to a fine, while the OCE has more powers and must investigate more data, as does the OEG, if it is reported that the video was part of its management as the first executive. “The essential element is financing because you have to see who spent or paid (for the video),” said Báez Galib.
The former Novoprogressive electoral commissioner Jorge Dávila, who collaborates in the Vázquez Garced campaign, said the video is neither a political announcement nor an official one from the governor.
“It is something in personal character. If someone understands that there was a campaign expense or a public expense, then file a complaint and the dispute will be addressed, ”said Dávila.
The PPD electoral commissioner, Lind Orlando Merle Feliciano, advanced to this media that they are preparing to file a complaint, and today they will offer details at a press conference. The New Day knew that the complaint will be before the Board Examining Ads.
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