SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 8. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The sectoral employer associations Apeca (Car Rental Business Association of the Canary Islands), Ashotel (Hotel and Non-Hotel Association of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro), Facca (Federation of Food and Consumer Goods of the Canary Islands) and Femete (Federation of Metal Companies of Santa Cruz de Tenerife) have sent a letter to the president of CEOE-Tenerife, José Carlos Francisco, in which they warn of “irregularities” in the election process and criticize the “lack of transparency”.
Thus, they ask Francis to adopt measures that lead to the restoration of legality and full compliance with the principles of equality, free competition, transparency and good faith in a call attended by the current Secretary General, Pedro Alfonso, and the businesswoman Victoria González Cuenca, financial director of Chafiras.
In addition, the signatory organizations of the letter demand the “urgent and immediate” call of a Board of Directors to revoke the process already started, approve a new electoral call and agenda for the celebration of the General Assembly that will elect the new board.
According to the employers, on February 10, an Extraordinary Board of Directors was convened for the 21st of the same month to convene the General Electoral Assembly but without previously announcing it on the agenda, those present were informed that Pedro Alfonso intends to lead a candidacy for the elections that are called at that same meeting on April 6.
Along these lines, they state that the statutes of CEOE-Tenerife establish in its article 32 that “with an anticipation of at least 40 calendar days” to the day of the elections, the General Secretariat must notify the full members of the composition of the Assembly , with the specification of the number of representatives that, depending on the statutes, have been assigned to each of the members and that circumstance “has not occurred”.
In addition, they denounce that from the CEOE bodies letters and communications were sent to the members of the Assembly requesting the endorsement of Pedro Alfonso, placing the organization “as a judge and part of a process whose impartiality must be guaranteed precisely by the figure of the Secretary General “.
In other words, they point out, “one of the candidates, Mr. Alfonso, uses the material and human resources of the CEOE for his own benefit by sending letters requesting guarantees.”
THERE ARE NO DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
They even point out that his resignation, which supposedly took place at the Board on February 21, “has not been formally revealed” and Alfonso continued to perform his duties in subsequent days.
This is demonstrated in opinion articles collected on the web, their dissemination on social networks and institutional visits to companies after that date in which he also acts as general secretary.
The employers consider that all these irregularities “seriously invalidate” the electoral process and contravene “the most elementary democratic principles when whoever is running as a candidate continues to act as general secretary, which must be a technical and totally impartial body, since it can define the composition of the Assembly, appoint members of the electoral table or announce candidacies”.
For this reason, they propose to revoke the agreements of the Extraordinary Board of Directors, the appointment of a general secretary with full respect for the provisions of the statutes to ensure the independence of the process; the exclusion of candidates from the functions of the General Secretariat; the adoption by the appointed secretary general of the agreement on the composition of the Assembly with respect to the Statutes and the designation of a new date for the holding of the General Electoral Assembly.
