Any candidate who contests the election of another candidate shall, within ten (10) days following the date in which the certificate of election for each elective public office in the general canvass was served, file with a Judge of the Court of the Judicial Region of San Juan, as designated under Chapter 403 of this subtitle, a brief explaining, under oath, grounds for said contest, which must be of such nature that, if proved, would suffice to change the results of the election.
A true and exact copy of the brief shall be delivered in person, in the manner provided hereinafter, within five (5) days following its filing.
The person whose election is contested shall have ten (10) days, following the date of receipt of the notice of the brief, to file an answer with the court, under oath, to the contester’s brief, and shall certify the delivery of a copy thereof to the contester or his/her legal counsel. If the person, however, fails to answer within the term stated above, it shall be construed that he/she accepts the contest as true.
The notice, brief, and answer prescribed in this subtitle shall be served by any person competent to testify, and shall be served, in person, to the parties concerned, their representatives in election-related issues as per the Rules of Civil Procedure, or at the residence or office of the person to whom they are addressed. For the purposes of this section, a political party candidate’s representative in election-related issues shall be the local commission member who represents his/her political party in the precinct where the candidate resides.
History —June 1, 2011, No. 78, § 10.016.