Madrid (EFE) If a party distrusts the operation of the vote-by-mail system, request a report from the Central Electoral Board. That an aspiring deputy has made some perhaps illegal statements for being in election time, urge a pronouncement from the Central Electoral Board. A pronouncement of the JEC.
They are the three most important words in an election. Board. Electoral. Central. It is the arbiter of all electoral processes that are held in Spain. Its acronym is frequently cited in periods like this, that of the July 23 elections.
Behind the initials is a more or less hermetic functioning body, although in recent years it has gained some transparency, and controversial decisions.
Past and present examples of JEC
Not long has passed, barely four years, since the controversy over the placement of the yellow ribbons on the facade of the Generalitat, as an expression of attachment to the independence movement, caused the disqualification of former president Quim Torra, who refused to remove them.
Not long ago, also four years, from that sanction to Pedro Sánchez for giving an interview in the Moncloa at electoral time, the first fine of the organization to a president in office.
And not long ago, rather not at all, the reform of the requested vote, which has broken down the obstacles that Spanish citizens residing abroad encountered when they wanted to exercise the right to vote.
In all three examples, a common actor: the Central Electoral Board.
Currently, the JEC has become relevant for the supervision of a model that guarantees that the vote cast by mail reaches its destination, that is, the corresponding polling station. But not only.
The possibility of avoiding the obligation to form part of the electoral table if the vacations were contracted before the elections were called, the acclimatization of the places where the citizens vote on July 23, so that the heat does not diminish the health of those who must work or go to the polls, are two more cases of the leadership of the JEC.
For a reason he is the arbiter of each and every one of the electoral processes.
A first note: what is LOREG
Elections are the basis of our political model: the parliamentary monarchy. Citizens will choose on July 23 what composition Congress and the Senate will have, that is, the Cortes Generales, that is, the legislative power. The first of the parliamentary chambers is the crucial one, because the vote that will appoint the future president of the Government will take place there.
The citizens do not directly elect the president, therefore, but they configure the majorities of deputies that will designate who will be president.
This requires regulation, standards. They are in the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime, the LOREG, another acronym to take into account. The standard dates from 1985 and is made up of more than 220 articles. It is subject to frequent modifications, such as that of the requested vote mentioned above.
Here is how the tables are formed, what to do if they are not formed, and how the counting is carried out. And there is much more: it regulates the candidacies, the deadlines, the ballots, electoral advertising, the behavior of the candidates and even the principles that must govern the debates in the media. By regulating, it also regulates the days on which to disseminate and disseminate voting intention surveys.
The guardian of the LOREG
The definition of the Central Electoral Board, the guardian of the LOREG, is on its own website. It is “the highest body of the Electoral Administration.” The text gives a clue about a more complex framework.
To supervise the electoral processes that are held in Spain there are the zone electoral boards, the provincial electoral boards, the boards of the autonomous communities (in some cases only, generally for uniprovincial autonomies) and, above all, the JEC itself. . Besides, but it is also key, the Electoral Census Office.
Where is it and how is the JEC formed?
The headquarters of the JEC is the Congress of Deputies. As the Congress is not only the palace, the one with the bronze sculptures of the lions, but many buildings around the Carrera de San Jerónimo in Madrid, point out that the headquarters is located in one of those annex buildings. There they work their functions and their members meet.
Which are 13 and are called “vowels”. Eight come from the Supreme Court, and are magistrates elected, through the insaculation procedure (putting ballots from a closed container for the subsequent draw), by the members of the General Council of the Judiciary. The balance of political majorities, progressive and conservative, obviously influences.
The remaining five members are elected by the parliamentary groups that make up the Congress of Deputies. Requirements: they must be professors of Law or Political Science and Sociology and be active. They also influence what political majority there is in the Chamber.
The appointments, which must be voted on first in the Congressional Appointments Commission, where applicants undergo a kind of suitability test, and then in plenary session, must be formalized before the end of the 90 days following the session Constitution of the Courts.
Once elected, among them they make up the presidency and the two vice-presidencies.
functions
Above all, “ensure the transparency and objectivity of the electoral process”, as stated on the web.
The range is broader: directing and supervising the actions of the Electoral Census Office; resolve with a binding nature the queries raised by the Provincial Boards and, where appropriate, those of the autonomous community; revoke ex officio previous decisions of the provincial boards; resolve complaints, claims and appeals addressed to it; ensure compliance with the rules relating to electoral accounts and expenses; exercise disciplinary power over all persons who intervene in an official capacity in electoral operations; correct violations, impose fines…
One outstanding aspect: the JEC imparts doctrine. It is found in the instructions issued in response to requests or complaints.