The Minister Spokesperson could be punished with a fine of between 300 and 3,000 euros for violating neutrality

MADRID, 4 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The disciplinary file that the Central Electoral Board (JEC) has opened against the Minister Spokesperson for the Government, Isabel Rodríguez, for violating for the third consecutive week her duty of neutrality in the institutional press conferences in Moncloa could end with a fine of between 300 and 3,000 euros, according to the Electoral Law.

In a resolution communicated this Thursday, the JEC explains that it has decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings for the criticisms of the PP that he expressed at the press conference after the Council of Ministers last week, when he was asked about the reaction of the first party of the opposition to the exhumation of the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera del Valle de Cuelgamuros.

The arbitration body recalls that article 50 of the Electoral Law prohibits, from the time the elections are called until they are held, any act organized or financed, directly or indirectly, by the public authorities that contains allusions to the achievements or achievements of the administration , for the sake of the duty to maintain the principle of neutrality of public powers.

But he stresses that, in the case of Isabel Rodríguez, it is not the first time that she has breached article 50.2 of the Electoral Law, since the JEC had already required her on two previous occasions to "extreme her diligence in order to avoid violating the duty of neutrality in the course of institutional acts".

For all these reasons, it agrees to initiate a disciplinary file against Rodríguez to determine, where appropriate, whether the eventual infringement is deserving of the sanction provided for in article 153.1 of the Electoral Law, a fine that can range between 300 and 3,000 euros. For this purpose, he appointed Andrés Palomo del Arco, who is a magistrate of the Supreme Court, as instructor of the file, and as secretary the general secretary of the body, Carlos Gutiérrez Vicén.

Likewise, he urges the withdrawal from the institutional website during the remainder of the electoral period of the statements with which he violated the law, he asks that he exercise extreme diligence to comply in future institutional acts and recalls that "every senior official is obliged, during the duration of the electoral period, to use extreme diligence to avoid violating the principle of neutrality".

Finally, the JEC questions the allegations made by Isabel Rodríguez that she acted with "the will to minimize the impact" of the statements denounced by the PP. The minister used the withdrawal of her words from the official website, but the arbitration body notes that they were withdrawn this Wednesday, eight days after making them and five after the complaint, which concludes that it is "reasonable to estimate that the will of minimize the impact" of his words "has been scant.