President of the JCE of the Dominican Republic: “The way out of here is with the political trial”

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Young Dominicans take to the streets for democracy 2:38

(CNN Spanish) - Amid requests for resignation and criticism for his actions, the president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) of the Dominican Republic, Julio César Castaños Guzmán, warned on Wednesday that the only way he or some of the members of that entity can leave their positions is through a political trial. This procedure must be requested from the Chamber of Deputies.

Amid the demonstrations for the suspension of municipal elections, the election official recalled what is the mechanism planned to remove him from his post or to other members of the JCE. "The way out of here is with the political trial and whoever feels they have to push it forward to go to the Chamber of Deputies and proceed, and quickly," he said.

Castaños considered that the easiest thing for him would be to resign and said that he thinks it is "despicable" that before what happened they "roll heads or that the full resign." The official clarified that he is not asking for forgiveness, although he admitted to feeling “shame” for the suspension of municipal elections. The electoral process, which was to take place last Sunday, was canceled due to failures in the electronic voting system.

The head of the JCE revealed that they requested the support of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Bodies to carry out a technical investigation of the Automated Voting System to determine what happened. "That investigation cannot be done by ourselves, with respect to us," he said.

“We don't know exactly what motivated him (the fault). Was it an oversight of ours? Was it sabotage? We do not know, but there must come a serious and responsible investigation that establishes responsibilities. And those responsible, if a palmar responsible of that appears, has to assume the consequences of that matter. Whoever it is, even if we are ourselves, ”said Castaño Guzmán, justifying the conduct of two separate investigations.

Castaño Guzmán's statements were one of the highlights of the public hearing in which the JCE officially informed the parties that the new municipal elections will be on Sunday, March 15, after rejecting the proposal to unify them with the presidential and parliamentary commissions.

However, the decision of the JCE was not well received by Orlando Mera, delegate of the Modern Revolutionary Party to that body.

“The JCE acting unilaterally, without giving the country any explanation and ignoring the just outrage that the events of Sunday have produced, proceeded to call the elections for March 15. It is inconceivable that the JCE intends to act as if nothing has happened here. ”

After those statements, a large number of protesters gathered again in front of the headquarters of the JCE to protest the suspension of the electoral process and ask for changes.