One of the candidates assures that the other collected votes by mail for the offices and demands that the result of the elections be annulled
The controversy has made its way in the last elections of the Murcia Bar Association. One of the candidates has challenged the result of this electoral process that allowed the renewal of part of its board of directors. In an appeal addressed to the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, the members of the ‘We Advocate’ candidacy denounced some alleged irregularities that occurred during the elections, in which the candidacy ‘For the legal profession we want’ emerged victorious. Among them, they highlighted the fact that supposedly the members of the other candidacy offered to go to the offices of the lawyers to collect their votes.
Based on the investigation carried out by a private detective, this list ensures that a single person came to deposit up to 80 votes from different professionals in the College’s offices. A way of proceeding, they remarked, that “violates the most elementary democratic principles and values that must govern any electoral process of an association” and that supposed “a competitive advantage” of some candidates against others.
“Absolute lack of respect”
The Bar Association, through a circular sent to its members, rejected the accusations made by this candidacy and defended the legality of the process. “The appellants, affirming that the members have ‘given away’ their vote for having decided that the documentation containing their personal identification and the envelope with their vote be certified by a third person, show their absolute lack of respect towards those members, legitimate holders of the right to vote and free to choose in whom they place their trust,” the organization stressed.
The appellants also denounced that the electoral process suffered from other alleged irregularities such as the lack of discrimination in the telematic vote of the votes of practicing and non-practicing members. In addition, the members of the recurrent candidacy demanded the separate count of the vote by mail. A circumstance that, the board stressed, is contrary to the norm. “Having agreed to it would have been a flagrant violation of legality, legal certainty and equality, guiding principles of all electoral procedures.”
The dean, Francisco Martínez Escribano, defended the legality of the electoral process and explained that the inauguration of the new team will continue while the General Council of Spanish Lawyers processes the appeal of this candidacy. The governing board must send this body a report providing details on the development of the elections.
The candidacy ‘For the legal profession that we want’ was proclaimed the winner this Saturday in the elections to renew part of the governing board of the Murcia Bar Association. The members, a total of 4,520 were summoned and had the right to vote, elected the team constituted by José Ramón Guerrero for the position of deputy number 4, who obtained 1,052 votes; Daniela Belén Rubio Riera, as librarian, 1,077 votes; José Manuel Hernández Benavente, deputy number 9, 1,074 votes; Cristina García López, secretary, 1,072 votes; Carlos Pascual Rojo Fuentes, deputy number 6, 1,045 votes; Blanca Castillo Amorós, deputy number 5, 1,077 votes; and Julián Lozano Carrillo, deputy number eight, 1,079 votes.