The ban imposed by the annexationist New Progressive Party (PNP) in 2011 has been criticized as “a limit on democracy and a hindrance to the political representation of minority groups” in the country’s general elections.
The judicial complaint establishes that the prohibition of combining candidates on the electoral ballot violates various constitutional rights of political parties, their members, and voters.
The ban, political organizations said, limits the ability of political parties to form coalitions and field candidates representing a wide variety of viewpoints.
The litigation proposes that Articles 6.1 and 7.9 of Puerto Rico’s Electoral Code be declared unconstitutional. Although it has been under the colonial rule of the United States for almost 125 years, since 1952 it has had its own governor, mayors and members of the Legislative Assembly.
Jurist Carlos GorÃn Peralta explained that the PIP and the MVC approach the court in the best faith of the judicial system as a last resort to correct an electoral code error that has disrupted electoral law and practice for more than a century. Have done
They pointed out that the electoral law in force in Puerto Rico since 2011 violates the fundamental values ​​of our people by prohibiting in the Electoral Code that two or more political parties agree to a coalition or accept the candidacy of a coalition. Are.
The constitutional attorney insisted that “this prohibition was reiterated in the 2020 amendments, and they remain in the amendments currently being considered in the legislature.”
Lawyer José Javier Lamas, in turn, said, “The ban imposes a heavy burden on the exercise of fundamental rights of political parties and their members, such as the right to vote, freedom of association, freedom of speech.”
He stressed that the position is also discriminatory against the bipartisan political opposition represented by the New Progressive Party (PNP) and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), without any compelling government interest.
“In this sense, we are faced with provisions of the Electoral Code which are clearly unconstitutional and must be declared as such to open way for an electoral process which recognizes greater democratic participation,” the lawyer said.
The MVC and PIP, their respective general coordinators Manuel Natal Albelo and general secretaries Juan Dalmau Ramirez, as well as their electoral commissioners, who will form a coalition for the November 2024 elections, appear as plaintiffs in the action.
