[ad_1]
At the top of the ballot that will be presented to voters in the presidential election on January 24 will be the name of a candidate who is not eligible: Eduardo Baptista. Despite having submitted his candidacy on time to the Constitutional Court, this soldier was accompanied by only 11 signatures, of which only six were considered valid, according to sentence of the judges of Ratton Palace known this Tuesday. The legislation requires a minimum of 7,500 signatures for an application to be processed, but the newsletters have already been printed and the lottery determined that this would be the name at the top of the candidate list.
“Printing of the ballots began shortly after the drawing of the candidates., as determined by Decree Law No. 319-A / 76, of May 3 (which regulates the election of the President of the Republic), ”explained the Electoral Administration of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Interior (MAI), in a note sent to Expresso. The draw was held this Monday and its result was sent to the Electoral Administration by the Constitutional Court.
In this decree-law it can be read that, “the names of the candidates will be printed on each ballot in the order in which they were drawn.” Still, it is added, “The raffle of the raffle does not imply the admission of applications, and should be considered without effect in relation to applications that may be definitively rejected”. “The possibility that the ballots include candidates that have since been excluded, or whose candidates withdraw from the electoral act, it’s not unheard of”Says the same note from MAI. It’s actually already happened three times since 1976, the year of the decree-law, because the PCP ended up yielding in favor of another candidate, even if your candidate’s name appears in the newsletters.
Although applications, such as Ana Gomes, for example, expressed surprise in relation to this situation – the candidate told Expresso that she did not understand how people who did not make the effort to collect signatures can appear in the newsletters -, the press office of João Ferreira, Candidate for PCP, responded that “This is a situation that derives from the law and the tight deadlines for preparing the elections, which by the way has already occurred in previous situations of elections for various bodies ”.
Information about an exclusion or withdrawal of an application is “provided, by notice, to the voters in all polling places ”, with the votes in these candidacies “Considered null”, adds the note MAI.
MAI will have asked the Constitutional Court to anticipate the draw
Official source of constitutional Court already stressed to Expresso that “All submitted applications are drawn, regardless of their validation” and that only this Wednesday “the sentence is given with all the information and the necessary corrections to the requests.” Asked about the printing of the bulletins with the name of a candidate who is not eligible, the same source refers to the responsibilities of guardianship: “Everything related to the ballots is the responsibility of the MAI”.
MAI will have asked the Constitutional Court to the draw is anticipated a few hours, for noon on Monday, according to the Expresso. The goal was for the newsletters to be printed in time to be distributed for early votingespecially in Portuguese consulates around the world. Between January 11 and 14, early voting is carried out in hospitals and prisons, between 12 and 14 votes abroad and on the 17th you can vote on mobility in the national territory, according to the calendar of the National Electoral Commission . .
“It’s always like this, the draw is always done with all applications“Insists the same source as the Constitutional. In fact, until all the signatures are verified, the applications are provisional; This process began this Monday and will continue until January 4. Then, in case of confirmation of irregularities, the candidates have two days to “fill them out” before the Constitutional Court.
The names of Ana Gomes and Marcelo did not seem complete
Between complaints and appeals, the process can take until January 11. That is, it is only between January 4 and 11 (depending on the existence of complaints or resources) that the candidatures are definitively admitted and the names of the final candidates are sent to the National Electoral Commission, the MAI, the City Councils, embassies, consulates. and consular offices.
With some printed newsletters, MAI gave new print order, I also found the Express. But this was not Eduardo Baptista, but the names of Ana Gomes and of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, not appeared in full in the newsletters.
The Constitutional Council gives Ventura, Mayan and Baptista two days to “supply irregularities“
Since then, the Constitutional Court has detected irregularities in the processes of candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic of André Ventura, Tiago maya me Eduardo Baptista, which will have two days for “supply“ those flaws.
According to the judgment of the judges of the Ratton Palace, of the candidacy of Fortune, leader of Chega, “no indication of profession“. No case of Maya, founder and leader of the Liberal Initiative, the Constitutional Court decides that “apenalties regularly instructed, duly signed and with a subscriber registration certificate in the electoral roll attached to the respective proposition statement, 5,961 voting citizens“.
As to Eduardo Baptista, the judges refer various failures in the process, what only Appear “educated regularly“ the filing statements of six voters. Nor is it included, according to the ruling, the complete number of the identification document, the negative certificate of the guardianship registration or other proof that he is enjoying all civil and political rights, the certificate of criminal record and the complete number of the document of identification of the trustee, as well as address in Lisbon for the purposes of notification thereof.
The Constitutional Court considers that in the candidacies of João Ferreira, Marisa Matias, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Vitorino Silva and Ana Gomes, “The respective processes are organized periodically, the documents that comprise them are authentic and certify the eligibility of all these candidates, and contain a number of presentation statements for each candidacy that is between a minimum of 7,500 and a maximum of 15,000 voters.“. “As a result, these applications are now, and without further ado, ready to be admitted.“, underlines the sentence.
