The leadership of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD, in Spanish) presented on Sunday the draft of the new regulations, which, among other things, reduces by more than half the seats on the Governing Board, significantly expands the size of its General Assembly and establishes that “indifference” will rule as a disciplinary measure against those members of the party who want to create public controversies.

The president of the PPD, Pablo José Hernández Rivera, affirmed that the proposed regulation - which must be approved in an Assembly of Regulations in the next few days - seeks to present to the country what they consider to be a new face in La Pava, en route to the 2028 elections.

"These regulations reflect a new way of managing the internal affairs of the party, in a more democratic, more effective and more disciplined manner. The approval of these regulations is indispensable for the PDP to show the country that it has changed and that, if the PDP has changed and can change itself, it has the capacity to also change Puerto Rico," said the also resident commissioner in Washington, at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Puerta de Tierra.

Hernandez was accompanied by PDP secretary general, Manuel Calderón Cerame; undersecretary Priscila Silva Irizarry; electoral commissioner, Ernesto González Rodríguez, and Aguada Mayor Christian Cortes Feliciano. The latter led the drafting of the regulations after more than a dozen meetings.

“The 2022 regulation has 145 pages. The regulation we just presented today (Sunday) has 37 pages. It is a 74% decrease,” the Aguada mayor emphasized.

The PDP rules were last amended under the presidency of José Luis Dalmau, when 14 members were added to the Board of Governors, the party’s governing body, including representatives of retirees, owners of small and medium-sized businesses, and private sector employees.

These sectors are now consolidated under a “sectoral vice-presidency”, which will participate in the Board of Governors. Hernández Mayoral explained that, when matters inherent to a particular sector are dealt with at the Governing Board, the presidents of each organization may participate with the right to speak, but not to vote.

Under the new regulations, the composition of the Board would be reduced, “from about 50 members, to about 20″.

“The problem we have with the current Governing Board is that the majority of its composition is not directly elected by all the people. We have solved that problem by consolidating several positions and creating a board that will have a president, an executive vice president, who will replace the president in his absence, a sectoral vice president, who will represent all the sectoral organizations in the Governing Board, five at-large members and one member for each senatorial district," the PPD leader said.

“These will be accompanied by the presidents of the Association of Mayors, municipal legislators, women, youth and public servants. In addition, former governors, a former president representing all former presidents, secretaries and undersecretaries, electoral commissioner and alternate electoral commissioner will have the right to speak but not to vote in the Governing Board,” he added.

Likewise, the new regulations would expand the size of the General Assembly, so that, instead of having close to 2,500 delegates, it would include almost 4,000 people. In addition, it consolidates the Program and Regulations Assembly, several internal committees and the General Council into a Governing Council of approximately 500 people, which will assume the authority to approve both the government plan and the party’s regulations, said Hernandez Rivera.

In terms of disciplinary aspects, Hernandez Rivera mentioned that they will use “indifference” with those popular who seek to create public controversy by not adhering to regulatory provisions. The sanction process will be “more expeditious”, specifically, one week, said Hernandez Rivera.

“We are recognizing that there are people who violate party rules for the sole purpose of generating controversy and drawing attention and that, for those people, the worst punishment the party can impose on them is indifference, to be indifferent to their conduct and turn the page and continue working to win the elections," he stressed.

Hernández Rivera indicated that the draft will be taken to a vote in the Assembly of Regulations through two calls: one this Wednesday, September 17, through the Zoom digital platform, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., and the other on Sunday, September 28, in Coamo.

Once the regulations are approved, the PDP expects to begin its restructuring on October 1.

“The secretary already has the plans, he has the deadlines for each municipal committee. I would say that the plan is 95% ready. The 5% that is missing are details that need to be fine-tuned," said Hernandez Rivera.

Months ago, PDP mayors expressed their concern that the party, after the 2024 elections, had not already begun restructuring, and expressed concern about how to recover lost or difficult municipalities for the party, such as San Juan, Bayamón and Guaynabo.

“San Juan is going to be divided into precincts and we are going to appoint them as presidential delegates..... We are planning to appoint renowned leaders so that the process will be more attractive to the popular base and they will feel the importance they have,” said the de la Pava leader.

“What I do want to emphasize also is, we cannot lose perspective of what is truly important in an election, which is to make the best offer and it is not the issue of the structure.... The most important thing is the candidates not the structure," he added.

Another project that Hernández Rivera has on the table is the acquisition of a new headquarters.

“We have several people interested. We have surrogate locations identified, so it’s on track. I don’t have a goal to do it before the end of this year. I have a goal of being in a new venue for the next election," he expounded.

The current headquarters is for sale, and was appraised, in 2023, for $2.6 million, but Hernández Rivera asked for a revaluation, which he has already obtained, but did not want to specify the amount on Sunday.