The Area Electoral Board rejected this Wednesday the claims of the Canarian Coalition, which had filed a complaint to try to prevent the Minister of Culture, José Guirao, from visiting the César Manrique Foundation this week on the occasion of the centenary of the artist's birth. The party appealed to an alleged violation of article 50 of the Electoral Law, but the Board concluded that there was no violation and that the act in which the minister was going to participate had nothing to do with the assumptions that this article tries to avoid, which in essence is intended to prevent parties with government responsibilities from campaigning using public money.
In its resolution, the Electoral Board points out that the act had "no electoral content" and that the minister is not even a candidate for the next elections, but above all that it is an act "organized by a private entity", the César Manrique Foundation, so there are no public funds behind that event. Right at this point lies one of the main differences with those organized by the Cabildo, to whom the Board expressly prohibited candidates running in the next elections from participating in those acts paid for with public money.
However, despite that warning, both the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, and the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, gave extensive speeches at the event held on April 24 in Jameos del Agua, which has led the Electoral Board to open a sanctioning file against them, which is also directed against the Canarian Coalition and against the Cabildo itself as the organizer of the event.
However, while CC leaders were intervening in an act that was paid for with public money, the party intended to prevent the minister from visiting a private entity or participating in any of the acts of the extensive calendar that the Foundation has organized, to which Manrique himself entrusted to ensure his legacy.
They did want him to go to the Cabildo events
Although the Canarian Coalition had not reported this complaint that it filed with the Electoral Board -nor of course the resolution by which it was rejected-, what it has done in recent days is publicly criticize the minister for not having attended any of the events organized by the Cabildo. In fact, in a statement they stated that the institution presided over by Pedro San Ginés had expressly invited him and that he had refused to attend. Thus, they publicly criticized this absence while at the same time trying to prevent him from attending the events of the Foundation created by César.
For his part, the Minister of Culture himself explained this Thursday that it was the FCM who invited him to the island. "The independence of the Foundation makes me see it with strength and credibility. Another thing is that some party sees the opportunity in the middle of the pre-campaign to confuse citizens," added the minister.
In this regard, he stressed that the Foundation "is self-financed and therefore independent". "This is great, because it allows you to carry out all kinds of activities being faithful to the spirit of the founder", added Guirao.
