In 2021, El Salvador will hold elections for its local, parliamentary and Central American legislatures. /DEM files.
Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya on Tuesday defended cuts to an ad hoc budget project for general elections starting in January 2024 and promised to implement “rigorously” essential reinforcements.
Zelaya promised that an election audit would be conducted. “Absolutely everything. (Tcs), he replied. Held within the territory of the country, it promised to coordinate the budget for voting abroad.
what did we get? See, we’re going to make this cut, but they have a moral commitment. Speaking publicly here, President Bukele told me that there is a moral commitment of the Treasury Department and a government commitment. We need reinforcements for our absolutely necessary and essential activities, but we are not going to jeopardize our elections. – Alejandro Zelaya, Minister of Finance.
According to TSE president Dora de Barahona, the Treasury will only make general cuts, while specific cuts will be made by the court and its technical team. As of Monday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has yet to comment on budget cuts abroad.
It will be decided by the director, vice director, and headquarters. To clarify that the Treasury Department has never assigned a particular item, it is the court, along with the technical team, that coordinates to the program where it will be reduced and where it will be increased. They just cut the whole sum. ” –Dora de Barajona, president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Priority Expenses: Treasury
In order to cut the election budget, Zelaya affirmed that in 2024, he “prioritized spending without jeopardizing vital activities to secure the votes of Salvadorans.”
He denied that the Ministry of Finance does not have the authority to cut a special election budget project designed by the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In other words, I have to consider what they are going to spend on, they have to give it to me, and I present it to the President of the Republic so that he can take the initiative If the Treasury Department has the authority to review statewide finances, not just those of the Supreme Electoral Court. ” – Alejandro Zelaya, Minister of Finance.
Officials in charge of finance assured that this review would take place in the Supreme Court, which told them: And they change ”.
Lawyer Ruth Eleonora Lopez said on Twitter that “only the Legislative Assembly” has the power to cut the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s temporary budget. “It is a guarantee that will never be honored,” he said, citing Article 274 of the Republic’s Constitution, which states that the special budget “is prepared by the court and notified to the Ministry of Finance without amendment.” the proper procedure for its approval by the Legislative Assembly”.
The finance minister also denied that the 2024 elections will be the most expensive in El Salvador’s electoral history. This is because he acknowledged that “the elections were never held abroad” because so few Salvadorans voted.
Democracy always costs, or costs a little, as some say. If you were to ask me if I wanted to spend $130 million or $129 million, I would answer, “I don’t want to spend even a single peso,” from a financial standpoint alone. I’m not trying to force it. We will not take risks or deny our constitutional rights. – Alejandro Zelaya, Minister of Finance.
Source: Diario Elmundo
