The president of the Community of Madrid and the Popular Party of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, speaks during her visit to the town of Ciempozuelos, on April 17, 2023.Gustavo Valiente (Europa Press)

The Provincial Electoral Board of Madrid has ordered the PP of the region to remove the photographs of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and other conservative candidates for the May 28 elections from the brochures with which they promote voting by mail since the beginning of this month, according to an opinion to which EL PAÍS has agreed.

The propaganda, according to the complaint registered with the supervisory body by the PSOE, was distributed at least in Alcalá de Henares and the city of Madrid, and was also published on the Twitter profile of the PP of Alcobendas.

Despite the fact that the electoral campaign has not yet begun, all the brochures followed a similar model: a photo of Ayuso together with the candidate of each city and the instructions to vote by mail in the municipal and regional elections next month.

The PP has appealed the decision.

✉️ You can now request your vote by mail until next May 18.

☎️ If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us through social networks, through our WhatsApp or visit us at the headquarters.# GanasDeAlcobendas pic.twitter.com/znfgDUGbGL

– PP Alcobendas (@PPAlcobendas) April 4, 2023

“The dissemination and distribution in different municipalities of Madrid of informative brochures with the Popular Party logo containing instructions for voting by mail, exhibiting the photograph of the candidate for the Presidency of the CAM [sic], is denounced. and of the candidate for mayor of each town”, the document reads.

"In the denounced brochure, the prominent image of the candidates cannot be considered as an accessory element, together with the explanation of voting by mail, which easily allows both elements to be visually associated and implicitly understanding that it is a call to vote for that candidate" , Add.

And it is underlined: "Even when the vote is not explicitly requested, the inclusion of the photograph and the procedure to exercise the vote by correspondence makes it possible to easily connect both aspects of advertising."

Following these reasons, the Provincial Electoral Board requires the PP to "proceed to remove the photographs (...) in the forms to promote voting by mail, until the beginning of the electoral campaign."

And it emphasizes: "Warn offenders that in the event of recidivism in their conduct contrary to electoral regulations, the corresponding disciplinary proceedings will be initiated."

Resources in favor of the PP

In the 2021 electoral campaign, Ayuso was already denounced for promoting her partisan candidacy in three institutional events that she attended as president of the Community of Madrid, and which were held in the Las Ventas bullring, at an Iberia headquarters and during a visit to the works of a bridge built to connect the Valdebebas neighborhood and Terminal 4 of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport.

Both the Electoral Board, which imposed a penalty of 960 euros, and the Supreme Court, which endorsed that fine, ruled against him.

The Justice even sentenced her to pay costs in an amount that cannot exceed 4,000 euros for each of the rulings.

Two years after the last campaign, it is foreseeable that all the parties will be very active before the electoral boards.

In fact, the PP accumulates fifteen complaints before the different electoral boards of the Community before the campaign has started.

Of these, according to the conservative party, at least six have had a result favorable to their interests and contrary to those of the PSOE (in Parla, Móstoles), Ciudadanos (in San Lorenzo del Escorial) and various local parties.

In one of the cases, those reprimanded were Juan Lobato, the regional candidate of the PSOE, and Ramón Jurado, the socialist mayor of Parla, whom the electoral board defaced in an act to celebrate municipal achievements in the context of the electoral campaign, according to documentation. to which this newspaper accessed.

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