The Chamber of Senators did not take into account the complaints that Miguel Godoy has against him to include him in the shortlist that aspires to the Ombudsman’s Office. The other two elected candidates are; Alejandra Peralta de Merlo and Narciso Ferreira Riveros.
The shortlist was proposed by Juan Darío Monges, Colorado national senator (Chartist) and obtained a total of 24 votes. Second, the motion of Hugo Richer, national senator for the Guasu Front, was left. The legislator proposed Jorge Rolón Luna, Diana Vargas and Arnaldo Martínez Prieto, but he was left with only 14 votes.
In third place was the shortlist proposed by Stephan Rasmussen, national senator for Patria Querida (PPQ). The legislator proposed Alejandra Peralta de Merlo, Liliana Zayas and Carlos Vera Bordaberry, obtained only five votes.
There was also one abstention and one absence. Now he goes to the Chamber of Deputies where he must be elected by a two-thirds majority of those present. Elected candidates must hold office until 2026.
The election took place after a second round since, during the first round, none of the candidates obtained the necessary simple majority (half plus one of those present). During the first vote, the shortlist of Senator Enrique Riera was also among the options; Luis Felipe Villamayor, Liliana Zayas and Jorge Dos Santos. However, for the second round it was no longer presented.
ASSISTANT DEFENDER
The following shortlist remained for the position of deputy defender; Óscar Forestieri, Rafael Ávila and Natalia Sosa Flores.
TERM OF OFFICE
At the last point of the extraordinary session, the term of office that the new authorities will have was discussed. There were two motions; the Rasmussen motion that the mandate be governed according to the legislative period (until 2023). And the Galaverna motion, so that the term of office is for five years.
Finally, the Galaverna motion won by 24 votes to seven for the Rasmussen motion. There were 12 abstentions and two absences.
NUMBERS
A total of 78 would-be ombudsmen entered the contest. Among them, 17 did not show up for the preliminary stages and another 6 resigned during the process. They were finally 55. But the Constitutional Affairs Commission chose 19 of them to aspire to the shortlist.
BACKGROUND
On July 7, 2020, Carlos Vera Bordaberry, then a deputy defender, denounced that Miguel Godoy physically assaulted him. The incident occurred at the Ombudsman’s office after Vera occupied a place in the parking lot where Godoy used to park his vehicle.
Vera Bordaberry himself had denounced a series of irregularities carried out by Godoy, a year earlier, in October 2019. He even asked Parliament to impeach him.
Among the failures noted, it was reported that Godoy had made trips to international congresses with an official at the cost of millionaires per diem (G. 20 million) and worst, that he himself had not participated in the conference. Thus, it was also denounced that the ombudsman had used per diem that did not correspond to make trips to the interior of the country.
