By Alberto Suris
On Monday, November 25, 2013, just after 7:00 pm, Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua, surrounded by a group of supporters appeared before the microphones of La Mega 1400 AM radio, where he made the official announcement that he had conceded to Daniel Rivera.
Lantigua said that he had just had a conversation with Mayor Elect Daniel Rivera, where he promised all sorts of facilities to make a quick transition. He also called on all his followers, for the good of the city, work with the new administration while warned that they must be vigilant that the achievements of his administration won’t be violated.
In the final election of November 5th, Rivera had a margin of 60 votes over Lantigua (Rivera 7,625 – Lantigua 7,565). After thinking, Lantigua requested a recount, which was held on Monday, November 23, 2013. Lantigua numbers resulted unchanged but Rivera won 23 extra votes, for a total of 83 votes over Lantigua.
After completing the recount, Lantigua said about 100 ballots were not counted, and of those, at least 98 votes were for him, so he was considering taking the matter to court. Then, convinced that the process would it be long and costly, after consulting with his family and lawyer Sal Tabit, decided to concede to Rivera.
