Teruel Existe has denounced this Tuesday in the Plaza del Torico the distribution of times designed by the public Aragonese television for the campaign for 29-N, which will reduce its presence to five of the fifteen days of the campaign, with interventions of barely nine seconds.
The candidate for Congress, Tomás Guitarte, and the number two on the list, Beatriz Redón, have rejected criteria that they consider "discriminatory" and that, as they claim, harm both the party and the right of the citizens of Teruel to receive information about all political options.
Guitarte has stressed that this system places Teruel Existe in a clear disadvantage position compared to the other parties. "While PP, PSOE and Vox will be able to appear every day of the campaign, we will only have a presence during five sessions. In addition, the nine seconds assigned contrast with the 45 seconds of Vox, which had a lower percentage of votes in the previous national elections, and the thirteen times higher times of the PP and eleven times higher of the PSOE", he indicated.
The candidate recalled that Teruel Existe achieved 15% of the votes in the province in the previous general elections, ahead of Vox, but even so it will have less visibility in the public media. He also criticized that the vote percentage across the whole of Aragón is taken as a reference to set the times, which, in his view, reduces its representation.
To this criterion is added the decision to limit their appearances to five days because they are only running in the constituency of Teruel. "It is a double penalty", Guitarte said, denouncing the application of a system that "seeks to penalize the presence of Teruel Existe in the media".
In this same vein, he recalled the precedent of the 2019 elections, when CHA was able to appear every day of the campaign on public Aragonese television, something he considers logical and that, in his view, shows that there are precedents for adopting a different criterion.
"This criterion comes from the application of two issues to ensure that Teruel Existe has little presence. What is done is to take our vote and distribute it among all of Aragon. That is to say, what was 15% of the vote in the province, at the level of Aragon ends up being much smaller. And, depending on that distribution throughout Aragon, the time is distributed, which turns out to be nine seconds. But, in addition, it is decided that since Teruel Existe only presents itself in Teruel, it is established that only five of the fifteen days should come out."
"Therefore, on the one hand the criterion of all of Aragon is used with us to reduce our time and then the criterion is used that we only present ourselves in the province of Teruel to also reduce the number of days," he has detailed.
Appeal to the Electoral Board and criticisms of the rest of the parties
In this scenario, the organization has filed an appeal with the Electoral Board to challenge the distribution of times. Guitarte has asked that, at minimum, it be allowed for Teruel Existe to intervene during the fifteen campaign days, even if the nine seconds set are maintained, and he has defended that it is essential to have reasonable time to convey its proposals to the electorate.
The candidate has framed this decision within a broader dynamic which, according to the complaint, would also be occurring in other institutions, such as the reduction of speaking slots and the possibilities of funding for the group in the Courts of Aragon. "It is not wanted that there be a Pepito Grillo that sings the forty at all the traditional political formations," he has reproached.
"This distribution also has a trap, because by not specifying that the candidates from Teruel will only be able to come out on the days in Teruel, the heads of lists from other formations by the province will be able to come out on whatever days they want, which amounts to a clear inequality," he has argued, stressing that Teruel Existe "is the only one excluded in order to be able to convey its program and its message to the people of Teruel."
For her part, the second number on the candidacy, Beatriz Redón, has put the focus on the fact that PP, Vox and PSOE have been able to reach an agreement to limit the presence of Teruel Existe, despite the disagreements they show in other debates.
"When they are completely incapable of reaching an agreement on other issues, PP, Vox and the Socialist Party join together to try to silence Teruel Existe," he has stated.
It has also censored that the three formations voted in favor of the criteria in the Aragonese Corporation of Radio and Television, in contrast to the rejection by Teruel Existe and CHA. Redón has stressed that "this limitation not only harms the candidacy, but also harms the people of Teruel, who will have fewer opportunities to learn about their proposals and the demands of the province".
"In the end, this issue harms the people of Teruel the most, and they are also being silenced," he said. In this situation, he assured that Teruel Existe will reinforce other channels to bring its program and its positions to the public.
The group will intensify its activity on social networks to make up for the limited presence in public media and has encouraged residents of the province to follow its communication channels. "We are not going to allow them to silence us," he concluded.