The Central Electoral Board confirmed yesterday its decision to initiate a disciplinary file against the Minister Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, for violating the Electoral Law by campaigning in favor of the Government, and consequently of the PSOE, from La Moncloa and during the press conference after the Minister council. Also, in the same resolution, a first notice is issued to the third vice president and minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera.
This is the third time that Rodríguez has been warned and, on this occasion, the possibility that the procedure will lead to a fine is very high. The case of the current spokesperson is added to that of her predecessor, Isabel Celaá; that of the former vice president of the Government, Pablo Iglesias, and that of Pedro Sánchez himself, the only president of the Executive who has been sentenced to pay a fine plus costs for violating the principles of neutrality and equality by using institutional means to promote himself electorally.
All these cases make the Government of Sánchez the most warned and fined by the highest body of the electoral Administration, in charge of ensuring and ensuring the transparency of the entire election process. It is not, however, the only Executive with alert members; There are examples at the regional level and also at the national level but, in the latter area, and with regard to the Government headed by Mariano Rajoy, the cases likely to violate the Loreg were either not reported or if they were, they were dismissed.
Thus, multiple warnings weigh on the Government of Pedro Sánchez, with repeated warnings in the future, not to reoffend, trespassing the limits that the law stipulates to ensure the principles of neutrality and equality in pre-electoral periods.
The last claim that the JEC makes to the minister spokesperson Isabel Rodríguez has, in its general terms, universal validity for any member of the Executive. The Board demands "extreme diligence" to "avoid in future institutional acts violating the principle of neutrality that public powers are obliged to respect during the electoral process, in application of article 50.2 of the Loreg." The notice to "all high office", in addition, is repeated throughout the resolution "in view of the repeated violations" already appreciated in the actions of the spokesperson.
Article 50.2 of the Loreg prohibits, from the time the elections are called until they are held, any act organized or financed, directly or indirectly, by the public authorities that contains allusions to the accomplishments or achievements obtained by the public authorities.
In the case of Rodríguez, the "evaluative allusions that disqualify the actions of a certain political party, along with negative assessments regarding its capacity or its intentions", are also added, referring to the comments that the government spokesperson made against the PP during the press conference after the Council of Ministers on April 25.
The Board also ignores the allegations presented by the Executive in defense of Rodríguez, mainly that his statements occurred in response to questions from journalists and that they have already been removed from the institutional website of La Moncloa. Regarding the first justification, the JEC insists that despite the questions asked by the press, the minister has the obligation to exercise extreme caution in compliance with the law and regarding the second, it objects that the withdrawal of the web page only It occurred on May 3 when the intention of the Board to open a file had already been announced.
This is the last serious call for attention to members of the current Government. There have been others before. The most important was the one that affected President Pedro Sánchez himself, sentenced to pay a fine of 500 euros and costs in favor of the PP and the Board itself for more than 4,000 euros. The case reached the Supreme Court because the Executive appealed but the decision of the JEC was confirmed by the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the high court.
Sánchez was denounced by the PP after granting an interview from the La Moncloa palace on October 25, 2019, in the run-up to the 10-N general elections.
The "scenography" and the use of "symbols and public elements" as well as the messages asking for a "sufficient parliamentary majority", urging their constituents to "mobilise" and demanding a "strong government", were the reasons used by the JEC to sanction the PSOE candidate but also the president of the Government. The final ruling of the Supreme Court stated that "political neutrality in electoral periods in public spaces constitutes an essential axiom of the legal system." And he added: "The principle of equality of arms was broken."
Mariano Rajoy was also denounced for an apparently similar case in 2016 when he recorded a video launching his electoral campaign in a room in La Moncloa. On that occasion he opened a file but finally the complaint was dismissed because the Board understood that the video was from the PP and not from a public power such as the Government; because the video was never posted on the institutional website of La Moncloa and because, despite having been made at the presidential headquarters, the camera only showed a window in the background so that institutional display could not be objected to.
The previous Government spokesperson and Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá, was also subject to a 2,200-euro sanction for her electoral statements before the 10-N elections, at the press conference of the Council of Ministers, puffing up the Government's achievements in job creation and urging citizens to bet on "the strong government that the country deserves". Celaá was fined because she was a repeat offender, as indicated by the JEC in its resolution.
Likewise, Pablo Iglesias, while still Vice President of the Government and Minister of Social Rights, was warned for recording a video announcing his candidacy for the Madrid Community elections in his institutional office of the Ministry.
The fines imposed by the JEC for violating neutrality in the electoral campaign by public authorities range from 300 euros to a maximum of 3,000.
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