SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, May 26. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Arona Guard Court (number 2) has initiated preliminary proceedings to clarify the alleged case of electoral crime denounced yesterday Thursday before the National Police by representatives of the Canary Islands Coalition, Popular Party and More for Arona, according to sources from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC).
The judicial authority has summoned the complainants to give a statement tomorrow Saturday and, based on this statement, other possible proceedings will be determined. Likewise, no precautionary measure has been taken, as indicated by the aforementioned sources.
CC, PP and Más por Arona filed a complaint for an alleged purchase of votes in the municipality of Tenerife. As reported in a note, the denounced events stem from a conversation in a private WhatsApp group for sports activities in which one of the participants is currently a trusted position of the PSOE mayor, José Julián Mena.
As stated in the complaint -supported by a screenshot-, an interlocutor sends a photograph with an electoral envelope where the candidate is seen and the words José Julián Mena Alcalde accompanied by the following words: “Manuel, the horse and I we are with you”. After this publication, the current adviser to the mayor responds verbatim: “I did not expect less. The 50 euros cusnfo votes.”
Once the candidates of the three political formations -Clara María Pérez (CC), Fátima Lemes (PP) and Dácil León (Más por Arona)- learned of this information, “which violates the main democratic rules”, they decided to make it known. of the pertinent authorities, who will be in charge of clarifying whether a possible crime could have been committed in this way of proceeding.
As a result of the complaint, the PSOE of Arona sent a statement to the media in which it demanded that the opposition parties “provide real evidence and the opening of an investigation and not statements in a press release”.
The Socialist Party of Arona also rejected “the level of dirt and despair that is characterizing the electoral campaign in the municipality” where, in his opinion, “the minimum democratic guarantees are not being respected” with “the massive sending of false news, accusations in the media, insults, harassment, false surveys, the presentation of anonymous letters and attribution of crimes to relatives of the socialist candidate, as well as the harassment of extreme right-wing media”.
On this point, the PSOE has criticized the communiqué of the three opposition parties in which they affirm that the Socialists are buying votes, “something that this formation categorically denies and demands a rectification, since these are statements made without foundation and for free”.
In the opinion of the Socialists, “it is not enough to want to alter the result of the polls and an alleged screenshot to make an accusation of this type, but it is absolutely essential to open an investigation and provide evidence” .
From the PSOE they have assured that the pertinent legal measures will be taken and the rest of the parties and candidates have been required to campaign “from the cleanliness and respecting the contrast of projects, not with false accusations to get headlines and space in the media “.
