The Constitutional Court (TC) has unanimously rejected the appeal for protection formulated by the PSOE to carry out a recount of the null votes in the province of Madrid during the general elections of July 23, some 30,000 key ballots for facilitate the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, as court sources confirm to La Vanguardia.
The six judges that make up the Second Chamber of the TC have supported the presentation of the progressive Laura Díez on the recount of the null vote in Madrid, which maintained the same line as the Prosecutor's Office of rejecting the appeal.
According to sources from the body, the magistrate had studied the prosecutor's brief, which she now endorses, and in which she understands that the Supreme Court's arguments to reject the socialists' claim "conform to the doctrine that emanates from constitutional jurisprudence." After seeing the arguments, the entire Chamber has understood that the PSOE's appeal has no constitutional fit.
The TC Prosecutor's Office had changed the criteria maintained by the public ministry in the Supreme Court lawsuit. Now he points out that the doctrine on which the high court was based to reject a new recount of votes in Madrid "does not allow recognizing the existence of an unconditional right, based on the mere expressed will of the interested parties, to review by the Boards Electoral of the votes declared null and not protested".
The magistrates, like the Prosecutor's Office, defend that it cannot be said that this decision goes against the fundamental right to access representative public positions under equal conditions. They support that the decision of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court and the resolutions of the electoral administration that it validates "did not violate the aforementioned fundamental right."
This resource was important for the PSOE because if it achieved a new recount it would open the possibility of recovering the seat that was lost after the recount of the foreign vote and that ended up in the hands of the PP. If it had been recovered, the party led by Pedro Sánchez would have an easier time with an investiture, if Alberto Núñez Feijóo's failed, as it would no longer need Junts' 'yes' but only his abstention.
The ruling warns the plaintiff, in this case the PSOE, that it cannot allege irregularities in the counting of the null vote to demand a review because the act is contrary to the Constitution.
The ruling maintains that there is a presumption of validity of the acts of the Electoral Boards and therefore to make the claim sought by the socialists "some irregularity must be alleged that could have caused a discrepancy between the result of the count and the will of the voters." The magistrates insist that to justify this irregularity, although there does not have to be full proof, at least evidence must be provided regarding its existence.
The LOREG does not contemplate a review of invalid votes because otherwise it could lead to a "generalized demand for a recount of votes", and therefore it would become an ordinary way of acting that is not contemplated in the law.
The Chamber insists that what the PSOE intends is in keeping with the principle of proportionality, "since the unconditional demand for review of the null votes causes a disproportion between the purpose pursued, investigating the true will of the voters, and the means used, reiterating all the work of counting the null votes".
Furthermore, it warns that allowing these generalized recounts would put an end to the speed in knowing the final electoral results, which constitutes a legal asset to be protected, "more difficult to guarantee if generalized claims occur."
