The decision, confirmed by the Minister of the Electoral Court, José Garchitorena, is part of the electoral regulations that prevent leaders from participating in internal elections of a party and then running for another slogan in the departmental elections. Garchitorena noted: «Yesterday we learned of the Board’s decision. They are the party authority and owners of the use of the slogan, so we decided to communicate it to all electoral boards and parties. “We will have to ask them why they made that decision.”
Judicial convictions and irregularities
The history of irregularities in the Artigas Municipality was a key factor in this resolution. Caram and Dos Santos faced a judicial sentence linked to the irregular overtime case during their management. Rodolfo Caram, former general secretary of the commune and brother of the former mayor, received disproportionate payments for overtime. In December 2022, for example, he charged for 196 overtime hours and 53 hours worked on holidays, impossible figures in the real calendar.
Dos Santos, who held the general secretary between 2015 and 2020, also played a leading role in these events, by ordering irregular payments of overtime without having the authority to do so.
Impediments to compete
Although the judicial conviction did not disqualify Dos Santos from running, the decision of the National Party Board leaves her out of the elections. Furthermore, electoral regulations reinforce this limitation, prohibiting leaders who participated in a party’s internal elections from changing their slogan for departmental elections.
«If they were candidates in the internal elections, they could only be candidates in the departmental elections for the same party. If the party does not authorize them, they are prevented from participating as candidates,” explained Garchitorena.
