Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court decided not to take up a lawsuit filed by three New Progressive Party (PNP) municipal legislators (Gustavo Grana Martínez, Damián Claudio Miranda and José Ortega Rodríguez) who are demanding that party leadership disqualify Hiram Torres Montalvo, current secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO), as a candidate for mayor of Cataño. The panel included Chief Justice Maité D. Oronoz Rodríguez and Associate Justices Rafael Martínez Torres and Erick V. Kolthoff Caraballo.
With this ruling, the legislators’ claim remains before the Court of First Instance. Their legal representation could not be reached for comment. The legislators argue PNP electoral commissioner Aníbal Vega Borges never answered a complaint they filed September 3, which the State Elections Commission (CEE) had referred to the party.
The mayoral vacancy arose after Mayor Julio Alicea Vasallo died last month. Vega Borges told El Nuevo Día the case is an uphill battle for the three, saying they lack standing since they aren’t candidates, failed to exhaust administrative remedies via the PNP Directorate, that Article 7.2(5)(c) doesn’t apply to this special Cataño election, and that the Electoral Code says the vacancy must be filled per the Municipal Code.
He added that applying Article 7.2(5)(c) would violate free association rights under both the Puerto Rico and U.S. Constitutions.