They prepare a report to clarify how the popular consultation was developed in Don Benito
The secretary of city hall of Don BenitoLuis Ángel Martín Peyró, has prepared a technical report in charge of the consistory itself in relation to the popular consultation process carried out on February 20 and by which the cities of Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena decided to unite as one. In this report, Martín Peyró collects throughout 12 points the procedure followed during the voting and the counting of the votes. It establishes that "at all times" qualified personnel from the Dombenite town hall, the Badajoz Provincial Council and the Government delegation intervened. All this seeking "total coordination and efficiency", he says. As for the process of early voting, remember that the ballot boxes were moved every day by the Local Police from the town hall to the house of culture and vice versa, proceeding subsequently to the public seal of the same. Furthermore, the report underlines that the early voting ballot boxes were "permanently guarded" in a safe and that on the day of the consultation, several agents of the Local Police and the National Police moved the five ballot boxes from the first floor of the town hall to the ground floor, where the vote count was carried out.
It is precisely at point seven where Luis Ángel Martín Peyró exposes, regarding the recount of the early vote, that there was "not a single complication, and remarks that the early voting ballot boxes cast 4,315 votes, so he believes that "a privileged mind is not necessary to suppose that they were going to be decisive." In response to this, he reports that for many days, and in different ways, it was announced that the early vote count was going to be public and residents were encouraged to attend. Peyró also explains that the recount was explained publicly to the media and to the rest of the attendees who were the people involved in the process and each vote was shown so that no one "in their right mind" could have the slightest Doubt about the process.
Another of the controversies that aroused the electoral night of February 20 was that related to the actions that were carried out in an attached office after the counting of votes. Well, the secretary states that it was there where the minutes required by law were drawn up, the results were recorded, Villanueva de la Serena was contacted and it was verified that the tables had transferred the data correctly. Once these tasks were completed, the result of 66.27% in favor of the merger in Don Benito was published.
Peyró acknowledges that he acted in an "excessively scrupulous" manner with the recount of the early vote, although he considers that the "historical occasion" of the consultation deserved it. Likewise, he also highlights the "irreproachable, exemplary and irreproachable" role of the mayor, Joseph Louis Quintana, as well as the rest of the members of the municipal corporation and political groups, without doing "not a single interference in the process." He indicates that the result of the vote was "indisputable" and that "there is no doubt that clearly Don Benito has pronounced himself in favor of the merger", he says in reference to the 10,028 votes in favor of the union for the 5,026 against, that is, twice as many votes in favor.
