Electoral Judge Carlos Da Silva accepted party appeals and dismissed three candidates for municipal heads in their localities.
Two removals were motivated by criminal convictions. This is what happened with the former mayor Juan Reggioni, who registered for the municipal leadership of Fernández Oro for the Frente de Oro Neighborhood Party, and the former legislator Lucio Benites Gutiérrez who signed up for the mayor of San Antonio although, in recent days, he opted for first place as councilor, also disqualified by Justice.
The third case corresponds to Gustavo Galiano Huenelaf, postulated by Cambia Río Negro for the mayor of El Bolsón. His exclusion is linked to the fact that he is not directly registered on the electoral roll.
“The possible existence of residence and/or the possible change of address are not enough to overcome the strict formal condition of the technical-legal incorporation to the voters’ register of El Bolsón”, reaffirmed the magistrate.
In all three resolutions, the Electoral Court granted their parties 24 hours to name new candidates.
Excluded for criminal convictions
For their part, Vamos con Todos and JSRN challenged Benites Gutiérrez in his candidacy for mayor and first councilor for United for San Antonio, considering that he is “sentenced to 1 year in prison suspended for the crime of simple sexual abuse, through of an abbreviated judgment”. It alludes to the fact that the municipal ordinance “disqualifies people who have been convicted” from being a pre-candidate and/or candidate for municipal elective office for the “crime of femicide, gender violence or sexual abuse in all the modalities provided for in The criminal code”.
In his defense, Benites Gutiérrez understood that the “suspended sentence would be finalized and exhausted to the criminal courts” and clarified that he only supported the candidacy for councilor, leaving the position for the mayor in Flavia Spinozo.
With a previous ruling from the Public Ministry in favor of the disqualification, Judge Da Silva went in the same direction because he understood that the case fell within the prohibition set by the ordinance and, later, recalled that “disability as a requirement to access a public office has as its north guarantee the suitability in the function”, as established in article 16 of the National Constitution.
It added that, as the STJ affirmed, “such a requirement is not a sanction, nor a declaration of guilt in a criminal trial”, nor does it “violate the presumption of innocence or the duty to guarantee the exercise of political rights”.
Reggioni’s separation from Fernández Oro’s electoral process is linked to a conviction in October 2019 with “perpetual disqualification from holding public office” for the crime of “negotiations incompatible with the exercise of public functions.”
This challenge was raised by the Proyectar Río Negro Party (PPR) by the ordinance “clean record, which provides for the impossibility of holding municipal office for those who have received a sentence ratified in second instance.
In his response, Reggioni’s representation explained that the sentence “is under appeal” and “has not become final”, but Judge Da Silva understood that Reggioni is included in the “legal assumption provided for incapacity in local law”.
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