NY – The special election to reorganize the leadership of the Democratic Party in Puerto Rico (DPPR) that will be held this Saturday at the Pedrín Zorilla Coliseíto in San Juan will be open to any voter who is duly registered to voteconfirmed the current president of the community, Charlie Rodríguez.
“This is a process that involves Any person who is duly registered to vote in Puerto Rico, who is active in the electoral registry and affiliates with the Democratic Party. So you have to bring your identification card or your driver’s license or your passport to be identified and to be able to vote,” he explained in an interview with El Diario de NY.
The above process will guarantee the affiliation of those who come to vote at the General Assembly of the Democratic Party.
“There is no list of affiliates. We hope to be able to compile that list on this occasion.. When the voter appears there, they will be asked for a series of information and will have to sign the voting record; and By signing the voting registration, you are joining the Democratic Party. So that will be from that day onwards that we will have the list of members of the Democratic Party,” added the leading statesman about the scope of the event.
One voting center and eight senatorial districts
Each voter will vote at one of the eight tables available according to the senatorial district that corresponds to them.
“It is a single voting center, but it is divided into eight senatorial centers that constitute the constitutional map of Puerto Rico. The person, when I got there to the Pedrín Zorilla Coliseíto, there were going to be some ushers and You will be asked in which senatorial district you are registered… and you will be directed to the board of the district that corresponds to you.. Why is that so? Because in each district, in addition to the president, vice president, committeeman, committeewoman, two members representing the district will be elected; and one of those members (they must be a man and a woman) must be a resident of that district. The ballot for each district is different,” Rodríguez detailed about the processes that will begin at 9 am and end at 1 pm.
Each voter must sign their ballot
The rules of the United States Democratic Party establish that voting will not be secret, so Each voter is required to sign or write their name on the ballot.
In the consultation, the president, vice president, committeewoman, committeeman, two members for each senatorial district, will be selected, which would translate into 16 officials (half and half between women and men); 10 members per accumulation (half and half between women and men). The new board will begin its term, which will last four years, on August 29.
In the case of presidency, the director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA), Luis Dávila Pernas, and the mayor of Villalba and president of the Association of Mayors of PR, Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, measure forces. Dávila Pernas is a member of the PNP, while Hernández Ortiz is a member of the PPD (Popular Democratic Party)
Lawyer Ema Marrero Negrón and the mayor of the PPD in Loíza, Julia Nazario Fuentes, face each other for the position of vice presidency.
They estimate the cost of the special election at $15,000 dollars
Rodríguez, who after eight years directing the organization decided not to run for the position again, indicated that, Because it is an institutional process or led by the national party on the island, the consultation will be financed practically entirely by the DPPR and not by the State Election Commission (CEE).
“This is going to cost us about $15,000 dollars.. The truth is that we are going to have limited help from the State Election Commission (CEE) that provides the ballot boxes, the voting booths, prints the ballots, but the paper has to be supplied to them. We have to publish the forms used for scrutiny and incident minutes or incident minutes. The badges, the voting record, we have to publish that; where the person will fill out their information and sign joining the Democratic Party. In addition to that, the identification of the tables,” explained the former president of the Senate of Puerto Rico who predicts that about 5,000 people could vote, doubling the number of voters in 2020.
Charlie Rodríguez assures that he has opened the DPPR to the general public
The member of the ruling New Progressive Party (PNP) He was credited with having opened or expanded the access of Puerto Ricans in general to the internal processes of the Democratic Party on the island contrary to what supposedly happened before his tenure.
“Every four years the Party in Puerto Rico is reorganized; but, before I became president, For 30 years, the Democratic Party was led by leaders of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), and they did not hold open assemblies. Everything was very secret, and it was to prevent more people from participating. I put an end to that, and started making open processes,” said the interviewee.
However, he acknowledged that, despite the efforts, The apathy of many citizens in general regarding the presence and efforts of the national party on the island is a fact.
“We have guided. What happens is that By not nominating candidates at the local level, this militancy on the part of the voters with the Party is not created.. I assure you that if the Democratic Party nominated candidates at the local level, we would have a very broad presence and things would be different. But what happens is that Until the status issue is resolved, we do not believe that the national parties in Puerto Rico should nominate candidates. We believe the status should be resolved. I carry this type of message of importance because, as I tell you, right now Congress is approving laws that are affecting the lives of Puerto Ricans and we have no participation,” said the New Progressive Party.
Rodríguez confronts Luis Javier Hernández
Hernández is one of those who has criticized the management of the Democratic leadership on the island headed by Rodríguez.
In a previous interview with El Diario, the candidate for the Senate by accumulation He alleged that the PNP members who currently predominate in the board have supposedly neglected federal lobbying on key issues such as the reconstruction of the island post-hurricanes to focus on the discussion of the status issue.
To this, Rodríguez responded: “If Luis Javier had been participating in the Democratic Party, he would know that that is not the case. But, since he had never participated, and this is the first time that he participates, he does not know what has been done. We, for example, We are interested in Puerto Ricans being able to obtain the maximum of their civil rights.and we do not have the right to vote and elect the men and women who approve the laws that affect the daily lives of Puerto Ricans at this moment. In other words, the issue of statehood for Puerto Rico is a civil rights issue.. I am an American citizen, but here in Puerto Rico I cannot vote for the president; I do not have a member of the Senate or the House with voice and vote. While if I move to New York City, practically after 60 days I can register to vote; and not only can I vote for the president and elect senators and congressmen who vote in Congress, but I can even aspire to be a congressman, but not in Puerto Rico.”
In that sense, he highlighted the efforts in Washington DC to get the Democrats in the House of Representatives to approve the Puerto Rico Status Act (HR8393) at the end of December 2022, which provides for a plebiscite between non-territorial options of statehood, independence or free association.
Although new versions of the legislation have been presented in both the House and Senate, the measure has not completed the legislative process for it to be finally approved in Congress.
DPPR leadership also focuses on other issues
The leading statesman assured that this issue is not the only one that has had priority on the agenda of the Democratic Party in Puerto Rico.
“We have been active with federal congressmen so that the transition can be made from the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN) to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) that all states have, and that alone would represent no less than an additional $2,000 million to give to our poor families so that they have equality in the food services they receive. We have also been active seeking to have the SSI program extended to us. “That is a program that applies to all states, to the territories, except for the island of Puerto Rico,” he argued.
Hernández, who defends the current Commonwealth (ELA) like other members of his party, also said that he was worried that his rivals would create some subterfuge to prevent his supporters from voting.
Rodríguez responded that The candidates for the presidency of the Democratic Party on the island are guaranteed observers at each of the tables.
“As for the other candidates, since there are so many candidates, it was decided that up to three observers for other candidates who were not going to be presidential would be allowed. And there would be more than three to have observers, among all those who are interested, a draw is held and the first three are selected,” he noted.
This drawing process took place on Thursday afternoon, Rodríguez said.
“Two plus two equals four, and that doesn’t stop anymore. In other words, those ballots will have to be counted and they will have participation. When I start to see that they say, ‘no, we distrust’, it is like trying to justify what could be their defeat,” considered the current president.
“Those votes are going to be counted, and whoever gets the most votes is the one who is going to win,” he insisted.
“All possible guarantees have been given to him, just like the other candidate. But this is an institutional process and I have raised this party from nothing, and I am not going to allow this to fall into fights where the institution is affected.. So the Party, this is an institutional event, is going to run it, but it is going to have observers for the presidential candidates and three additional candidates…” he pointed out.
Regarding the impact of the reorganization at the local level on the Democratic National Convention to be held from August 19 to 22 in Chicago, Illinois, Rodríguez indicated that it would not have any because the statutes establish that the current leadership of the Democratic Party in PR will continue its mandate until one week after the event in the US has ended.
Stay tuned to the section on Puerto Rico in El Diario for the second part of this interview in which we address the issue of the Democratic primaries on the island
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2024-03-16 00:16:00
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