Close PDP presidential election in limbo after ballot cases incident spurs recount

By THE STAR STAFF

The Popular Democratic Party (PDP) remained without an official president Monday after the party decided to go to a recount of votes amid allegations of numbers not adding up, irregular voting, and the refusal of the candidates to open cases carrying ballots.

On Sunday night, the PDP leadership decided to suspend the vote count and move to an official recount, given the difference of a handful of votes between Villalba Mayor Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz and Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González. A third candidate, Morovis Mayor Carmen Maldonado González, conceded defeat earlier in the day.

PDP Secretary General Luis Vega Ramos stated that it was not possible to certify an official winner on Sunday due to the refusal of candidates Ortiz González and Hernández Ortiz, through their representatives, to open nine ballot cases to corroborate the information in the records that were in the State Election Commission’s possession.

“When they were there, the representatives of the candidates decided not to authorize the opening of those briefcases,” Vega Ramos said in a radio interview Monday.