The Provincial Council Establishes an Investigation Committee on the Exam with 'Irregularities'

The plenary session of the Alicante Provincial Council has unanimously approved a joint motion by PSPV and Compromís to establish an investigation committee regarding alleged 'irregularities' in a competitive examination for 58 administrative assistant positions within the provincial institution.

The proposal was passed during the regular March session, held this Wednesday at the Provincial Palace. Before the vote, a debate ensued in which President Toni Pérez criticized the proponents for 'already having the verdict.'

During the defense of the motion, Socialist deputy José Ramiro Pastor emphasized that this non-permanent informative committee is necessary because 'it could allegedly be interpreted that the test was rigged,' referring to the examination held on February 8 and repeated on March 1, as 'there were marked patterns in the questionnaire distributed to the candidates where the correct answer could be identified.' Pastor stated that the aim is 'to identify those responsible for the error, whether intentional or not, and to determine if a disciplinary file should be opened and action taken decisively.'

Meanwhile, Compromís spokesperson Ximo Perles described Llopis's (PP) intervention as 'an insult to the intelligence of the chamber's deputies and the public,' while insisting that 'the exam was rigged and it must be determined who was responsible.'

'When we say that a particular person signs reports and does things that are alarming, you claim it is a political persecution against someone specific and then that we generalize to tarnish all civil servants. It is not a political persecution, but rather to understand why it is done wrong, because it is not a mistake, it is entirely intentional,' Perles emphasized.

Vox voted in favor of the PSPV and Compromís proposal. In this regard, their spokesperson, Gema Alemán, stated that her group supports 'anything that brings transparency and ensures the legality of any administrative procedure in the Provincial Council.'

From the government team, the Human Resources deputy, María Lourdes Llopis, recalled that the test was repeated due to a 'human error in the questionnaire's configuration format,' as requested by the technical committee, to 'ensure the principles of equality, merit, and capacity for access to public employment.' Additionally, she apologized for the incident to those who took the exam.

'They now demand a committee to which we will not object, because we have nothing to hide, and everything is recorded in the minutes to which you have had access. What they want is to cause harm and go against specific civil servants, like the daughter of the Education Minister, who has been in the house for 15 years and has participated in countless selection processes,' stated the 'popular' deputy.