Hasty ruling on voting rolls suggests political reasons, ex judge says

Cecilia Sosa Gómez, former president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), said on Thursday that justices gave priority to a ruling preventing destruction of the voting rolls that were used in the opposition primaries despite the fact that other applications were filed earlier and were equally urgent.

"One could suspect that pressure was exerted to decide first on this legal action over the remaining outstanding and urgent applications to be resolved by the Constitutional Court, Supreme Tribunal of Justice," she added.

Sosa's remarks referred to the TSJ decision about the action filed by opposition candidate mayor Rafael Velásquez to preserve the voting rolls used in the opposition primary elections.

Sosa Gómez, a former opposition presidential pre-candidate, said that the ruling was issued within 24 hours because it had "internal support." She added that the hasty ruling could lead people to ask themselves whether it was a legal ruling or a political decision.

In his claim, Velásquez did not complain about irregularities in the vote count. According to the TSJ ruling, he only requested the Court to prevent the burning of voting rolls, Sosa Gómez stressed.