THE HOMELAND | MANIZALES
The claims of Juan Jacobo Hernández Toro and César Augusto Díaz Zapata to annul the election of the two councilors of the Green Alliance Party in Manizales were denied in the first instance by the Administrative Court of Caldas.
Julián Andrés García Cortés and Víctor Alfonso Caicedo Espinosa were elected as corporators for the constitutional period 2024-2027 and, for now, they continue with the green seats.
The ruling was notified yesterday and, as indicated by the plaintiffs in the documentGreen Alliance did not meet the gender quota. They first registered a list of 13 candidates (9 men and 4 women) for the territorial elections of October 29, 2023, but two women identified as Mariana Salgado Castaño and Valentina Londoño Zapata they resigned. However, the latter retracted it and the list ended up with 9 men and 3 women.
Thus, “the gender quota that requires that 30% of the candidates be female is being breached. With 12 candidates, the percentage corresponded to 3.6, so they estimate that there should be around four female candidates.” to comply with this legal guideline. The plaintiffs consider that the Green Alliance Party could well have modified its list to comply with the gender quota and compete in the electoral contest with full observance of legal formalities and on equal terms with the other political parties and movements,” the document reads.
Quiet
Councilor García Cortés feels that the ruling in favor of the Green Party did justice because the Administrative Court of Caldas understood that they provided all the guarantees for the applicants to be candidates and this was stated throughout the legal process.
“With the support of the National Electoral Council and the Registrar’s Office, which endorsed our arguments, they showed that we never violated the gender quota in Manizales. We are happy. It is a guarantee for the citizens who came out and voted for us, but we understand that there is a second instance and this must go to the Council of State. However, we are calm. We know that this ruling gives rise to the Council of State to ratify it.
Appeal
Alejandro Franco Castaño, lawyer and attorney for the plaintiff Díaz Zapata, expressed that they will appeal the decision next week so that the Fifth Section of the Council of State has the final say in the second instance.
“We consider that the Green Party not only knew of the resignation of these people and additionally had the legal opportunity to modify its list and did not do so. This must have a consequence that is none other than the annulment of the election of the list for violating and breach the legal system,” he maintains.
According to Franco Castaño, the arguments will be carefully analyzed in the appeal, since another point is Form E8. “If one reviews that electoral document, the Green Party Council list It only reached 25% of women’s participation. This aspect, which is the subject of debate throughout the process in the first instance, was not analyzed in a deep, clear and specific manner by the Administrative Court of Caldas. “It is one of the reasons for objection to the sentence.”
In the Assembly
Last month LA PATRIA reported that the deputies for the Liberal Party Hernán Alberto Bedoya Cadavid, Jorge Hernán Aguirre González and Óscar Alonso Vargas Jaramillo They will continue in their seats after the legitimacy of their election was in doubt following a claim for annulment filed last December. The action alleged that the gender quota rule was violated by modifying the list of that community to the Assembly for the 2023 elections.
However, LA PATRIA learned that the ruling delivered by the Administrative Court of Caldas It was appealed by the plaintiffs, so this process also goes to the second instance.
Earrings
The councilors of Manizales for the Conservative Party Luis Gonzalo Valencia González, Manuela Castaño Rodríguez, José Humberto Duque Corrales and Jorge Eliécer Galeano Hernández They continue to wait for the ruling on the lawsuit to annul the election that was filed by former councilor Simón Ramírez.
