Senator Oscar Salomón, president of the Upper House, accompanied by deputy Carlos María López, head of the Lower House, led this Sunday an informative meeting with the ministers of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE), on the fire and the loss of a human life occurred on September 29, in the aforementioned institution.
The meeting held through the virtual platform, from the session room of the Chamber of Senators, was attended by Jaime Bestard, president of the TSJE, who was accompanied by the ministers Jorge Bogarín and César Rossel, in addition to the technical team of the institution.
At the beginning of the briefing, Minister Jaime Bestard lamented the tragic death of official José Aníbal Ortiz. “What happened on September 29 is a tragic and dramatic event that is subjecting us to a test of great resistance and recovery capacity; obviously. We will not have the recovery of a human life and it is a pain that we will have to bear, ”he lamented.
In this sense, the head of the TSJE informed the legislators that data was collected on the damage to the building structure, furniture, computer equipment, voting machines, forklift, etc.
COMPLIANCE WITH THE ELECTORAL SCHEDULE
The minister emphasized the strict compliance with the electoral schedule and assured that, with the studies that are being carried out together with the technical team and the evaluation of the inventory of the damages received, they will be able to comply with the simultaneous internal elections, as is planned for the 18th of December 2022, with the use of machines throughout the country without the use of ballots.
Next, he asked both Chambers to allow him “for the only time”, the modification of article 218 of the Electoral Code, to extend the voting for 2 more hours and to be held until 7:00 p.m., so that they can ensure the participation of the people. “That entails an increase in voters per table and with that comply with the number of machines that the TSJE has,” Minister Bestard said.
