The president of Puerto Rico’s elections commission will be resigning immediately, nearly a month after a chaotic and unfinished primary forced a second round of voting in an unprecedented event for the U.S. territory, NBC News reports.
Juan Ernesto Dávila said in a statement that he was stepping down for the well-being of his family, friends and fellow church worshippers.
“I don’t want to be a distraction at this moment in our history,” he said, denying that he was resigning because of pending lawsuits related to the delayed primary election process. He decried what he said were “lies, insults and slander” against him.
Dávila's resignation comes as top government officials have repeatedly urged him to step down following shoddy primaries on Aug. 9 when dozens of voting centers never opened due to missing or delayed ballots and countless others turned voters away because they ran out of ballots. A make-up election was then scheduled for Aug. 16.
