The Central Electoral Board (JEC) has dismissed the complaint filed by the Movement for the Unity, Decolonization and Independence of the Canarian People (Movimiento UPC), which requested altering the name of the left-wing coalition Unidad del Pueblo Canario (UPC), made up of Nueva Canarias, IU, Sumar and Podemos, considering that both names were too similar.
The representative of Movimiento UPC, an independence and left-wing formation with a presence in the Canary Islands, asked the arbitral body to examine a possible infringement of article 46.4 of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG), on the understanding that the coalition's name resembles that of its party excessively.
That provision of the LOREG establishes that candidacies must be presented with names, acronyms or emblems that cannot lead to confusion with those habitually used by other legally registered political formations.
"THERE IS NO RISK OF CONFUSION"
However, the Electoral Board has rejected the letter after concluding that the questioned designation does not infringe said article, given that "it is not apparent that there may be a risk of confusion for voters".
The body adds that, according to the data from the Register of Political Parties, the Movement for the Unity, Decolonization and Independence of the Canarian People is listed together with at least two other formations that also include the word 'Unity' in their name, as well as several more that use terms such as 'Union', 'United' or other equivalents in different co-official languages.
Along the same lines, the electoral arbiter recalls that the case law of the Constitutional Court has established that expressions of a generic nature, as is the case with 'Unity', "do not authorize their appropriation exclusively by a political group", a criterion that likewise extends to the mention of the 'Canarian People'.