The Electoral Board has allowed Podemos to continue with the campaign of harassment of the brother of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and maintain the canvas that they placed on Goya street. Despite the fact that the European Prosecutor’s Office ruled out irregularities in the mask contracts managed by Tomas Diaz Ayuso, Podemos continues to use his image despite the fact that it could incur an attack against his honor. However, the Electoral Board has washed its hands, ensuring that it is not within its competence to “resolve issues related to the infringement of rights contained in Organic Law 1/1982, of May 5, on civil protection of the right to honor, to personal and family privacy and one’s own image”, as denounced by the PP.
After the minister’s shirts Ione Herb and the candidate for the Community of Madrid from the purple formation, Alejandra Jacinto, an advertising banner appeared with the face of Ayuso’s brother and a manipulated tweet from Pablo Casado. However, according to the letter of the Electoral Board, it requires the political party Podemos “to proceed with the installation, on the front of the poster, of some element/logo that clearly identifies its ownership.”
In this way, it partially upholds the appeal that the PP filed on Saturday, arguing that it is a doctrine established by the Central Electoral Board that “It is contrary to the principle of transparency that any electoral campaign should be governed by any subject, be it a political party or not, carry out an electoral advertising campaign using the symbols, colors or typography habitually identifying another that may mislead voters about the authorship of the electoral message, as well as that any natural or legal person disseminate electoral propaganda anonymously, without identifying themselves with the electoral messages that they present.
And it is that the canvas put up by Podemos creates a tweet with the account, logo and colors of the Popular Party and with the words of its former leader, Pablo Casado, collected from an interview with the Cope network in February 2022, in the middle of the controversy over the Community commissions obtained by the brother of the regional president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
“After examining the complaint made by the PP and the allegations presented by Podemos, it is verified that the canvas can mislead voters as to its ownership, since only the Podemos emblem is visible on the sides and not on the front, this being the most visible part for the public, “says the Madrid Zone Electoral Board.
Regarding the content of the poster, they ensure that “it is not their competence to settle issues related to the infringement of rights contained in Organic Law 1/1982, of May 5, on civil protection of the right to honor, personal and family privacy and the image itself, and must, where appropriate, resort to the appropriate procedural channels.
The resource of the PP
On Saturday the PP filed an appeal with the Electoral Board, in which it demanded the immediate removal of the purple canvas. Among his arguments was that “it may seem at first glance” that “it has been placed by the PP.”
«The message is contrary to the principle of transparency that must govern any electoral campaign. It is contrary to electoral regulations for any subject, whether a political party or not, to carry out an electoral advertising campaign using the symbols, colors or typography usually identifying another that may mislead voters about the authorship of the electoral message, “they state. , in addition to emphasizing that the name of Podemos did not appear on said canvas, although it does put it on one side.
In addition, according to the PP, “it spreads an alleged tweet that has been manipulated since said tweet in the terms expressed on the canvas does not conform to its literalness, introducing some changes in the original that distort the reality of what is expressed in its day, creating confusion for the public.
The image of a third party (Ayuso’s brother) is included under the headline ‘You have to throw them out’, implying that the object of the disapproval is a person outside this process, and that he never appeared in the original manipulated tweet. In fact, they argue that he uses the image of a person “without his authorization, which is a violation of the constitutional right to one’s own image.”
The canvas placed by Podemos, whose candidacies for the Community and the City Council are led by Alejandra Jacinto and Roberto Sotomayor respectively, reproduces a tweet published by the PP account on Twitter and which quotes a phrase from Pablo Casado, who wondered: «The The question is whether it is understandable that on April 1, when 700 people died in Spain, you can contract with your sister and receive a profit of 286,000 euros for selling masks.
Allegations of Podemos
Last week, Alejandra Jacinto and the Minister of Social Rights and Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, have worn t-shirts with the face of the brother of the regional president and a phrase that the former president of the PP Pablo Casado launched on Cadena Cope against her . Belarra assured yesterday at a rally that she would remove said canvas if Tomás Díaz Ayuso returned the money he received from the Community of Madrid.
In addition, the purple formation reported that “without any doubt the authorship of Podemos is recognized” in this message, which can be seen “clearly” on the sides of the canvas where the name of Podemos appears and that the typography is also used typical used by the party, in addition to its corporate color. In addition, it defends that the text of the poster is limited to reproducing “exactly the verbatim” of an official tweet of the PP which, in turn, reproduces “word for word the statements of Pablo Casado.”