The resolution follows a complaint from the PSOE of Málaga, which questioned the visit of both councillors on April 7 to the construction site of Pascual Hospital in the provincial capital. According to the Electoral Board, this action violates Article 50.2 of the General Electoral Law (Loreg), which prohibits the dissemination of government achievements from the election call until its celebration.
The visit to hospital works with public dissemination does not constitute public services, but rather an allusion to government achievements incompatible with the duty of neutrality incumbent upon public authorities during the electoral process.
The PSOE argued in its complaint that the visit to Pascual Hospital, with media invitations and public statements about progress and investments, was not a technical action but an institutional event designed for media coverage. Socialists pointed out that the content of the news published after the visit clearly extolled the achievements and management of the regional government.
This conduct, according to the PSOE, breaks the principle of equality and neutrality of public authorities, by allowing officials of the Andalusian Government to use their position and resources to project a favorable political message during the electoral phase. The Provincial Electoral Board, following the criteria of the Central Electoral Board, has declared the article violated, although without imposing a direct sanction on the councillors.
Josele Aguilar, general secretary of the PSOE of Málaga, has welcomed the resolution and demanded that the president of the Junta de Andalucía and PP candidate, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, cease “cheating” during the electoral period. Aguilar described the councillors' visits as a “deception and a scam,” criticizing the “double standard” of those who called for a clean campaign.
