By The Star Staff
The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) is challenging in the commonwealth Supreme Court the holding of a status plebiscite along with the Nov. 5 general elections, a process they described as “unconstitutional, misleading and fraudulent.”
After saying he would not do so, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia issued a decree convening a status vote together with the general election. The decision was made even though the Republican Party, which many observers consider to be in an improved position to win the U.S. presidential election in November, decided to eliminate statehood for Puerto Rico from its draft platform.
“The call for this plebiscite, in addition to being unconstitutional and illegal, is a desperate act by the NPP [New Progressive Party] leadership and another crude attempt to deceive the thousands and thousands of statehooders who feel shame and anger at decades of bad government and corruption at the hands of the NPP and so they no longer see themselves represented by that community,” the PIP said.
“Today, we have filed an appeal directly with the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. We challenge the constitutionality of this call by decree that the governor has made for this referendum,” said Juan Dalmau Ramírez, the PIP gubernatorial candidate who is also the de facto candidate for governor under the pro-independence party’s alliance with the Citizen Victory Movement. “We will fight this deception in all forums. It is one more deception, like that of the statehood lobbyists, which cost the people close to a million dollars a year and made thousands of statehooders look ridiculous.”
Referring to Law 165, the lawsuit argues violations to the doctrine of separation of powers, freedom of speech, equal protection of the laws, and the right to vote.
“It is difficult to find in jurisprudence cases in which legislation that suffers from many constitutional deficiencies is evaluated. This law that we are challenging violates the core principle of the separation of powers, which divides government power into three branches to prevent any of them from controlling and abusing power,” said Carlos Gorrín Peralta, a law professor. “In this case, the Legislature gave up its power to legislate and left the governor all the power to decide if there would be a status consultation, what questions would be submitted to the people for consideration, when it would be held, the definition of the alternatives on the ballot and the other details of the vote. But in addition, the law and the governor’s executive order limit freedom of expression, freedom of political association and undermine the value of the vote of those who disagree with what the governor proposes. That only happens in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.”
PIP Electoral Commissioner Roberto Iván Aponte said there is already a fourth worthless ballot in the elections, which is the symbolic vote for the presidency of the United States.
“This legal appeal is presented directly to the Supreme Court, so it must be much faster and, above all, because we are already in the month of August preparing for the ballots, and it cannot take much longer, so our approaches are clear,” he said. “Let’s hope that they are received this way. […] [We are asking] that this process, that consultation, not be carried out. […] There is already legislation approved for a symbolic fourth one-vote ballot for the president of the United States, which seems ridiculous but is legislatively approved. That would be the fourth ballot. Now, the governor, with the support of [putative NPP gubernatorial candidate] Jenniffer González, wants a fifth ballot […] that has no value whatsoever.”
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