The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has rejected the appeals presented by Podemos and Izquierda Unida (IU) against RTVE's criteria of only granting them 1% news coverage for the 28-M elections and denying them free spots.
In an agreement this Thursday, to which EL ESPAÑOL has had access, the body in charge of supervising the legality of electoral processes has chosen to confirm both decisions, which it already announced on May 4.
“The Central Electoral Board, in session of the day of the date, has agreed to dismiss the appeal filed by the joint general representatives of the United and Podemos-Izquierda Unida coalitions against the RTVE Information Coverage Plan for the local elections of May 28 2023”, reads the agreement. Also, it denies you the possibility of entering into the distribution of free publicity.
However, there has not been unanimity in the JEC. A member has announced that he will present a particular vote, dissenting from the majority, in both cases. When it is drafted, Podemos and Izquierda Unida will be notified.
A week ago, the Electoral Board approved the RTVE coverage plan for the 28-M campaign. And he considered that in those territories in which Podemos and Izquierda Unida present themselves under other names, they cannot be considered as the same force, since it is a different denomination and, therefore, a different legal personality.
In this way, by not reaching the minimum number of votes required in the previous municipal elections, it limited its coverage to only 1% of the time.
The two parties appealed this decision, which they considered “iniquitous”. They argued that RTVE's news coverage plan “violates the constitutional principles of political pluralism and proportionality”.
And they complained that the public entity attributed a third of their votes to Equo, the environmental group that was part of the coalition and is now related to the Sumar platform, headed by Minister Yolanda Díaz.. It will be under this brand that environmentalists will run in the 2023 general elections.
As stated in the appeal, RTVE should attribute 4.8% of the votes to them. And, therefore, increase its presence in these public media (Radio Nacional, La 1, La 2…), with more minutes of news coverage.
[Podemos and IU accuse the JEC of ignoring “democratic values” by giving them 1% coverage on RTVE]
In the same way, Podemos and IU appealed the decision to exclude them from the distribution of free advertising. They demanded that the JEC, in order to calculate the advertising minutes that would correspond to them, considered both forces, as well as the large number of their confluences, as a single coalition, together.
By changing their names and denominations, RTVE and the JEC excluded certain municipal and regional branches in their count and left Podemos and IU out of this distribution of free spots.
The two parties underlined in their appeal that, if it was possible to group several candidacies in the same Parliamentary Group in Congress, “the same must be done with the awarding of free electoral spaces.”
And they denounced that the distribution designed by RTVE “penalizes” them, through a “centralist and restrictive interpretation when it comes to forming an electoral political space.”