2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SIXTEEN - Election and Registration (§§ 1 — 4255) › Subtitle 2 - Additional Provisions (§§ 351 — 973q) › Chapter 72 - Plebiscite on the Political Status of Puerto Rico (§§ 972 — 972r) › § 972f - Participation of parties

Parties, major parties, and parties by petition that pursuant to the Election Code are duly registered and certified by the Commonwealth Election Commission as of the effective date of this act, may participate in the plebiscite in official representation of one option or combination thereof, provided that their central governing entities report their intent in writing to the Commonwealth Election Commission on or before February 15, 2012. Failure to notify such intent within such term shall result in the loss of the preferential right to support the option in question. If the central governing body of any party, major party or party by petition fails to notify the Commonwealth Election Commission as provided in this chapter in representation of one of the options, or after doing so, withdraws from the process or agrees to advocate for or exercise abstention in the plebiscite, the Commonwealth Election Commission shall receive and process petitions and issue certifications crediting any citizen group or political action committee, as defined in the Election Code, to advocate for one of the options rejected or abandoned by any of the parties, major parties, or parties by petition. The citizen group or political action committee shall be certified by the Commonwealth Election Commission for the purpose of becoming the official representative of one status option and receiving appropriations from the fund provided in this chapter, if it also meets the following requirements:
(a) Petition to be certified as the official representative of one of the options or combination thereof within forty-five (45) days counted as of February 15, 2012, or as of the time one of the parties withdraws from the process or agrees to advocates for or exercise abstention in the plebiscite.
(b) The citizen group or political action committee is duly registered, as required in §§ 621 et seq. of this title, known as the “Puerto Rico Political Campaign Funding Oversight Act”.
(c) At the time of the petition to the Commonwealth Election Commission:
(1) Such citizen group or political action committee existed and had a public and track record of advocating for the status in question;
(2) it was composed of its central governing body in part by people affiliated to one or more groups, organizations or entities existing before the submitting the petition and has a public and track record of advocating for the status promoted by the current citizen group or political action committee, or
(3) even if it did not existed as of the effective date of this act, a substantial number of the members of its central governing body belonged to any party that has a public and track record of advocating for the status option that they intend to represent during the plebiscite.
(d) That such citizen group or political action committee wishes to actively participate in the proposed plebiscite, to support the available status formula, and that its central governing body has, in fact, decided to participate in such plebiscite.
(e) That the citizen group or political action committee representing the available status option notifies to the Commonwealth Election Commission in its written petition the names and addresses of the members that constitute the governing body of said group. The names of the members of the governing body shall appear on the certification issued by the Commonwealth Election Commission, should the petition be approved.
(f) The petition for the certification of a citizen group or political action committee shall include a list containing a number of endorsements, which shall not be less than one thousand (1,000) qualified voters. Such petition may only be signed by voters entitled to vote and registered with the Commonwealth Election Commission. The Commonwealth Election Commission shall prepare the endorsement petition forms and make them available sufficiently in advance, so that the citizen group or political action committee may be able to comply with the endorsement filing requirement provided herein in a timely manner.
(g) In the event that more than one citizen group or political action committee complies with the requirements to be duly certified to represent the same available status option, the certification shall be granted to that citizen group or political action committee that first meets all the requirements herein provided. Provided, however, That no party, major party, party by petition, citizen group or political action committee shall represent, for purposes of this chapter, more than one status option as established in the second question.
(h) The Commonwealth Election Commission shall adopt the norms that shall govern the special form and procedures that shall be observed to implement the provisions of this section.
(i) Citizen groups or political action committees may submit their petitions pursuant to this section, at any time after the approval of this act. However, said petition shall be considered if the option that the citizen group or political action committee wishes to represent is made available by the parties, major parties, and parties by petition, upon expiration of the term provided in this chapter to exercise their preferred right to support one of the options, or if any party, major party, or party by petition, after accepting such option, decides to abandon the process or agrees to advocate for or exercise abstention in the Plebiscite, within more than thirty (30) before the holding thereof.
History —Dec. 28, 2011, No. 283, § 7.