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The May 2019 General Elections (including Presidential)


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Martinelli will not be vice president, but could be released soon

Mon, 12/17/2018 - 17:54

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Luis Eduardo Camacho, spokesman for Ricardo Martinelli, said last week that the former president would accompany Rómulo Roux in his presidential campaign, assuming the possible responsibility of being the vice president in his hypothetical government. However, the former president said that despite supporting the candidate completely, his position is to remain as a candidate for mayor and deputy, from where he will rebuild the country.

Assuming that with the presence of Martinelli the Democratic Change party (CD) could be reunified, the criminal inmate, at this moment, said that "it is better to join the party with José Raúl Mulino or José Muñoz or José Domingo Arias”. Given these statement, the presidential candidate of the PRD, Laurentino Cortizo, said that the support for Roux had been withdrawn by Martinelli, information included in a press release corresponding to his campaign as reported by La Estrella de Panama.

Although this decision changes Roux's plans for the presidential campaign, the politician said that "I think it is very positive that former President Martinelli reiterates his support for my presidential candidacy, and I respect his decision not to aspire to a vice presidency."

Regarding Martinelli's imprisonment in El Renacer, things have only changed for worse, after be known, according to the lawyer Alma Cortés, that it is forbidden the entry of his family's food to the politician, something that himself confirmed by means of a letter written by his own hand.

"Every Sunday Varela and Picuiro increase the restrictions and violate my rights and my visitors’ rights. Today they prevented that friends and family bring me breakfast and foods, and worse, they don’t let them bring me books" is part of what can be read in the handmade document.

These measures condemned by various political sectors, including Rómulo Roux himself, have been described as personal, to the point of justifying them as "directly from the hatred that Juan Carlos Varela feels against him", according to Alma Cortés.

However, there is still hope for the possible release of Martinelli, covered by an appeal that could be presented before a judge of guarantees of the Accusatory Penal System (SPA), as indicated by the lawyer Roniel Ortiz emphasizing that after six months of preventive imprisonment, the defense can opt for a precautionary measure.

While waiting for a meeting with the former president, the defense also wants to coordinate a hearing with the SPA judge, in order to present a large list of human rights violations of the current mayoral candidate, including the recent one that prohibits the entry of food from his family.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/martinelli-will-not-be-vice-president-could-be-released-soon-8699

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Imprisoned Martinelli’s political ambitions

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Martinelli courtroom political harangue
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Panama’s ex-president Ricardo Martinelli’s political ambitions remain undimmed while he spends Christmas behind bars in El Renacer prison awaiting trial after a failed attempt to spend the holiday in a private hospital.

He is  facing trial for the illegal wiretapping of at least 150 people while in office with  a  dozen corruption investigations waiting in the wings and  he recently boasted he could buy off   half a dozen Supreme Court judges for less than victims had called for during plea bargaining,

When constitutionalists warned that he could not be a vice president running mate of  CD presidential candidate Rómulo Roux for the May 5, 2019,  elections, Martinelli lowered his sights and announced that he was declining that role and would concentrate on his candidacies. for the Mayor’s Office of Panama and for deputy for the circuit 8-8.

But, with less than five months to the elections, La Prensa reports a fresh controversy over whether or not he can run for the positions, taking into account Article 153 of the Constitution ruling that one of the requirements to be a deputy is to be a resident of the corresponding electoral circuit. at least one year before the application. Article 291 of the Electoral Code also contemplates that same requirement to be mayor.

Martinelli arrived in Panama on June 11, extradited from the United States to face the wiretapping case.

In August, the presiding magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal, Heriberto Araúz, told La Prensa that the electoral residence is not about the physical location where the person lived last year, but the one registered in the last voter registry.

An electoral decree establishes a difference between the concept of residence of the elector and that of the candidate.

For the elector, the norm states that he must stay at least four nights of the week in the area where he wants to vote. On the other hand, for a candidate, it is broader: it is valid if he was educated in the area or if he has business in it, for example.

Expert in electoral law Javier Odinola maintains that Martinelli would have no impediment to being a candidate.. However, he says that there is a concept of residence for the elector and another for the candidate, which are completely distant, “would be unconstitutional”, because, in his opinion, there should not be privileges or privileges. The issue, he adds, is that the decree has not been sued.

Others believe that if that rule is the subject of a lawsuit, What is meant by residence? If you live personally here or have business here. That is a for the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice, but for that, it is necessary to present action of unconstitutionality. But the Electoral Tribunal has the first option. If no one challenges, the application remains firm.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/imprisoned-martinellis-political-ambitions

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Judas dolls carry message for lawmakers

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Members of the National Assembly carrying "no to re-election" signs, President Varela ,and candidates to replace him, were the central figures of the end of year display of “Judas” effigies created by artisans of the of Bejuco, community in Chame, Panamá Oeste. The effigies were burned at midnight to introduce the New Year, and a hoped-for farewell to the featured lawmakers.
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/judas-dolls-carry-message-for-lawmakers

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Jailed Martinelli registered as Panama mayoralty candidate

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Panama’s ever bewildering political scene took another turn on Monday, January 14  when ex-president  Ricardo Martinelli was registered as Cambio Democrático (CD) candidate for Mayor of Panama City.

Martinelli is currently detained in El Renacer Pprison awaiting trial in an illegal wiretapping case in which the prosecutor has called for a 21-year jail term.  Dozens of supporters headed by the former First Lady, Marta Linares de Martinelli and failed vice-presidential runner danced and sang as they arrived at the party headquarters in Plaza Carolina.

Deputy Sergio Gálvez, the self-proclaimed sexual buffalo will be his running mate for the candidacy for mayor of Panama.

Linares de Martinelli and Gálvez arrived at the CD offices accompanied by a delegation composed of Mayín Correa, the deputy Diego Lombana, the ex-deputy Marcos González and the model Génesis Arjona.

Inside the headquarters, this group met with the president of the CD, Rómulo Roux , and the general secretary and deputy Yanibel Ábrego.

“With the nomination of Martinelli we showed that Cambio Democrático is united, we are calm and confident that we will win the elections on May 5,” Roux said.

The event took place on the day that the PRD confirmed their mayoralty candidate and running mate.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/jailed-martinelli-registered-as-mayoralty-candidate

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Martinelli  Drops Out Of Mayoralty Race

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Martinelli and Galvez during previous admistration

Posted 06/02/2019
 
Ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, in El Renacer prison awaiting trial for illegal wiretapping, while in office with the prosecution calling for a 21- jail term has withdrawn his bid to run as an independent candidate for Mayor of Panama with self-proclaimed “sexual buffalo” Sergio  Garcia Gálvez.as his running mate.

He has been denied bail on five occasions in the US and Panama and seems finally to have had a reality check after his political team picked up a little more than 45000  signatures, to support his run.

He sent a note to the Electoral Tribunal (TE) , on January 11, that he was withdrawing from the candidacy along with his deputy, Sergio Chello Galvez "We are convinced that Panama needs to wake up again, and that is achieved by consolidating an electoral force that represents the Democratic Change party together with its ally the Alliance party," Martinelli said in the note. 

"We do not want to end, without first thanking the more than 46,000 Panamanians who signed our books with force and zeal, thank you," he added.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-drops-out-of-mayoralty-race

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Judge analyzing lawsuit against Martinelli election bid

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Posted 08/02/2019
 
A lawsuit against t Ricardo Martinelli’s candidacy for 8-8 deputy and mayor of Panama is was in the hands of Judge Monica Guardia, of the Second Electoral Court.  In the next few days to analyze the judge must analyze the lawsuit and decide whether or not to admit it.

The lawyer Jorge Hernán Rubio his appeal against the president, on February 2. 

In the complaint, Rubio argues that Martinelli "voluntarily" left Panama in January 2015, set up his residence in Miami, returned extradited to Panama in June 2018 and is being held in El Renacer prison, located in the village of Cristóbal, Colón.

He also said that in Miami Martinelli acquired three luxury cars, and set up a mansion in Coral Gables, at 6919 Sunrise Terrace, to which he is linked. There he was arrested on June 12, 2017.

Martinelli was nominated as a candidate for deputy of the 8-8 circuit, and to the Mayor's Office of Panama for the Alianza party, of José Muñoz, and for Cambio Democrático.  (CD) The CD party, funded and funded by Martinelli to further his political ambitions, has nominated several candidates for the upcoming election who have unresolved corruption charges hanging over their heads.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/judge-analyzing-lawsuit-against-martinelli-election-bid

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On 2/7/2019 at 8:48 AM, JohnF13 said:

Interesting to see that our Diputada (Athenas) has been abandonded by the PRD in favour of Manolo(sp?) Ruiz.  She is now running for the Allianza party, according to the Panama News.

Here come the knives for Manolo.

Manolo Ruiz Impugned ..Heats Up Dispute in Circuit 4-5

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CANDIDATES

The dispute over the only seat of circuit 4-5 (Boquete, Dolega, Gualaca) has become the closest thing to a battle between Spartans and Athenians, after it was known about the challenge to the candidacy of Manolo Ruiz, nominated by the alliance 'Uniting Forces' that make up the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (Molirena).

Lawyer Yeira Navarro, on behalf of Evelcio Guerra, filed the appeal with the Regional Office of Electoral Organization in the province of Chiriquí, after alleging that Ruiz was sentenced to 6 months in prison by the Criminal Electoral Judge of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro for the crime of using state assets to politically proselytize in the last elections, as well as being disqualified for one year.

Given this fact, the deputy of the PRD, Athenas Athanasiades, to whom the CEN of her party cut off her aspiration to be reelected in 4-5, forcing her to run in the Alianza party, which has a government agreement with CD, collective in which Ruiz militates, said to feel 'surprised' in addition that assured that she is not the author of the impeachment.

The curious thing is that the complainant Guerra, is one of the PRD that supports the deputy Athanasiades and that is in disagreement with his party has given the space to Ruiz. "The collective should have taken into consideration the bases to make a decision on who was our own candidate, so I support her because I think she is the one with the votes," he said.

On the other hand, Ruiz described the impugnation as reckless. 'What happens is that they are afraid of me, they are not able to look for their votes, they look for it like me. This comes from Athenas, that's not going anywhere. That is called fear and we will win at the polls, "Ruiz added.

PROCESS

5 May

Before that date, the TE must resolve the challenge to Ruiz's 6-month jail sentence. Otherwise, it would be beneficial, then to win, his deputy would occupy the seat for one year, while the disqualification lasts.

Molirena

Manolo Ruiz was nominated by the Molirena-PRD despite the fact that he is Cambio Democrático (CD). Juan Manuel Torres, of the Electoral Committee of Molirena, said that the appeal could not be valid, since it was presented at a time when Ruiz's candidacy was not finalized under the Electoral Bulletin, "the time to contest is not in force. , he is still our candidate for deputy until the verdict of the TE, "he said.

Wednesday, February 13, 2019 - 12:13 a.m.

Lucy Garcés Évila lucy.garces@elsiglo.com.pa

http://elsiglo.com.pa/panama/impugnacion-manolo-ruiz-agudiza-disputa-curul-4-5/24106914

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The seven presidential candidates of Panama are measured in their first debate

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 16:14

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The seven candidates for the Presidency of Panama will measure themselves on Wednesday in their first debate in the lead-up to the general elections on May 5, with the topics of health, education, food, and constitutional reforms as the discussion basis.

This first debate, which will be broadcast on national television and radio as indicated by the electoral law, has generated expectations among analysts who ask politicians for a clear and understandable language for the majority of the population, as well as concrete proposals.

The event will take place on Wednesday night in the dome of the State University of Panama, a facility with 1,200 people capacity that reached full capacity due to invitations to rectors, diplomatic staff and representatives of parties, and civil society, according to the official information.

In this "ideological dispute for the projection of proposals and ideas", as the Electoral Tribunal has defined it, the presidential standard-bearers of the opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Laurentino "Nito" Cortizo; of the Democratic Change (CD), Romulo Roux; and the Broad Front for Democracy (FAC), Saul Mendez.

Also, the ruling Panameñista Party presidential candidate, Jose Blandon; and the independent candidates Ana Matilde Gomez; Ricardo Lombana and Marco Ameglio.

The candidates must address issues such as the transformation of education; food security and sovereignty; health and human development; and a new constitutional order.

In this context, the constitutional reforms issue is expected to grab the attention of the political and economic sectors, after it was one of the campaign's promises of the current president, Juan Carlos Varela, who finally addressed the issue at the end of last year without any support in Parliament.

Panamanian analyst and constitutional expert Ernesto Cedeño told ACAN-EFE on Tuesday that he expects candidates to be able to communicate their ideas in a language that most Panamanians understand, and especially "the 800,000 young people of the country."

Cedeño said he hopes that the electoral authorities will explain to the public that in another national debate, scheduled for next April, other issues that generate interest in Panamanian society will be addressed and that candidates will also be able to confront ideas in other forums than those organized by the entity of elections.

The analyst and former minister Renato Pereira also told ACAN-EFE on Tuesday that the presidential candidates should use a language with "less academia, fewer promises of long-term projects," and with more "concrete proposals" on issues of society's concern, among which he highlighted public safety and the environment.

According to the electoral timetable, the second presidential debate organized by the Electoral Tribunal, which will also be broadcast on national radio and television, will take place on April 10 at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP), based on issues yet to be defined.

Last week the election body held a draw that determined the order of participation in the Wednesday debate, in which each candidate will have a minute and a half to express their ideas and proposals in a first round, an additional minute in two later, and another minute to address a topic of their choice.

More than 2.7 million voters are summoned to the polls on May 5 to elect a president and vice president, deputies to the National Assembly and the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), mayors, corregimiento representatives, and councilors.

The proselytizing campaign for the elections will officially begin on March 4.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/seven-presidential-candidates-panama-are-measured-their-first-debate-9300

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Protest song a wake up call to Panama voters

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Posted 24/02/2019
 
By Margot Thomas

Panamanian singer-songwriter Karla Lamboglia who is not politically aligned has jumped into the election fray with a protest song that has gone viral  reflecting disappointment with the country's political class.

Lamboglia is a Panamanian singer and songwriter who began her career as a singer-songwriter in 2007 and is known for an eclectic musical style and deep lyrics that mix rhythms and ideas, often serving as a communication channel for the artist.

Pa'Que,( For  What) is more than a song it is a feeling and a wake-up call that the composer as Panamanian without political affiliation sends to express her love for Panama by calling on citizens to be responsible when it comes to choosing the next rulers.

She, says "We all want a better Panama when waving that beautiful tricolor of our country, and we cannot lose faith that things can be better".

The song was produced by Billy Herron of Folk Lab Studio and mixed by Vicente Ríos of Piso 3 with the participation of musicians Eric Blanquicet, Luis Mitil, Luis Chen, Tatiana Rios, Haydee Cantillo, and accordionist Raúl Aparicio.

The video was made by Alberto Serra, director, and producer of the Force of the Ball.

The is single is part of Lado B, the next record of the singer and is not part of any campaign, it is an independent production that expresses the dissatisfaction as a citizen of the current situation of the country says a media release.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/entertainment/protest-song-a-wake-up-call-to-panama-voters

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Martinelli election ploys in limbo

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Posted 25/02/2019
 
The attempts of jailed former president  Ricardo Martinelli to run as a candidate for deputy and for mayor of Panama are in limbo according to the Electoral Tribunal (TE).

Humberto Castillo, communications director of the TE, confirmed to La Prensa on Sunday that the Martinelli’s candidacies are not officially registered in the most recent electoral bulletin due to the challenges filed against him by the lawyer and ex-deputy Jorge Hernán Rubio.

Martinelli aspires to be a deputy for the circuit 8-8 (Don Bosco, Juan Diaz, Parque Lefevre, Rio Abajo and San Francisco), and mayor of the district of Panama. His substitutes are Mayín Correa and Sergio Chello Gálvez.

In a previous bulletin, published on February 16, Martinelli does appear as a candidate for both positions, postulated by the Alliance and Democratic Change parties. At that time, the Second Electoral Court had rejected some of the first challenges filed by Rubio.

These legal actions were based on Article 435 of the Electoral Code , which includes among the grounds for contesting the residence of the candidate, who -according to Rubio- in the case of Martinelli is not the jurisdiction that would correspond by law, but El Renacerprison  , where he has been detained since June 2018, after being extradited from the United States to face trial for illegal wiretapping.

The first challenges were rejected by the electoral court since Rubio presented them outside the legal term.

When presented again, both legal actions must be processed and decided by a court and, for that reason, the candidacies do not appear in the last electoral bulletin and they are not firm, explained Castillo.

Until now, as Martinelli has not been convicted, his candidatures can be validated, according to article 9 of the Electoral Code.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-election-ploys-in-limbo

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Voters need cures not diagnosis

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Lackluster debaters

Posted 25/02/2019
 
Voters are already aware of the country’s problems and need proposed solutions and not further diagnosis from the seven presidential candidates who emerged from a lackluster first debate without a clear winner says Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture.

The debates are important of spaces for the candidates to explain how they will respond to the problems facing the country said in a bulletin issued on Sunday, February 24.

In the note, the business union says that the appearance of presidential candidates should not "remain in the simple diagnosis of the existing evils and deficiencies, "The voter is already aware of what needs to change. The candidate has to say what to do and how, "says the Chamber president Gabriel Barletta.

The debates are intended to encourage citizen participation in the exercise of suffrage and allow voters to "gather broad references" of those who want to lead the country in the next five years.

"More than waiting for the candidates to face each other's tirades or spread guilt everywhere, the citizens aspire to find in these debates the statesperson who knows how to interpret their aspirations and can present viable, realistic and concrete formulas to achieve them," said the Chamber.

The Chamber of Commerce and the Electoral Tribunal (TE) will organize the second presidential debate on April 10.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/voters-need-cures-not-diagnosis

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Flood of social media propaganda complaints

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Posted 27/02/2019
 
The Electoral Tribunal (TE) is investigating over 80 complaints about the alleged violation of rules governing the election and has. issued 39 edicts ordering the suspension of propaganda in different digital media

The biggest number of complaints received by the Digital Media Unit of the TE are about the presidential candidates José Isabel Blandón, of the Panameñista Party, and Rómulo Roux, of Cambio Democrático (CD).

It also affects the accounts of their respective political parties and social organizations that have made publications for and against someone on social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube.

Among other things, the TE alleges the breach of some of the parameters established in Decree 31 of October 13, 2017, on the scope and limitations of the electoral campaign.

although the Electoral Tribunal ordered the suspension of some publication, the result is not immediately seen, because they must send requests to Facebook, which, for example, is based in Ireland.

The Electoral Code states that those who violate the electoral ban may be faced with fines ranging from $50 to $1,000.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/flood-of-social-media-propaganda-complaints

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Panama faces electoral campaign with new rules and networks as the great challenge

Wed, 02/27/2019 - 17:12

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Fabio Agrana

Panama is on the verge of a new campaign for May general elections that reduces the period of proselytizing to 60 days and controls its spending, but whose great challenge is the dynamics of social networks and the infamous fake news, acknowledged to Acan-Efe the electoral magistrate, Alfredo Juncá.

The Electoral Tribunal of Panama knows that the country does not escape a global reality: it uses accounts and false news to which it is attributed great influence and which are the center of debates and unpublished investigations, including judicial ones.

Juncá, one of the three main magistrates of the electoral body, highlighted the benefits of the new electoral rules, which include a Digital Media Unit, but admitted that in terms of social networks the rules of the Electoral Code "are very rigid".

"We need a procedure that changes at the same speed that social networks change, something that we can activate the mechanisms of control and protection of the electoral process as soon as we need it, at the speed we need it", Juncá said.

This matter, in his opinion, "has to go to review in the next electoral reform", because now and also later it will constitute "the great challenge" of the governing body of elections, which already has a long way in search of mechanisms to protect the process in which more than 2.7 million Panamanians are called to the polls on May 5.

The Court has established "a strong relationship" with Facebook and Twitter, among others, "that can suspend content violating the electoral rule" in force in Panama, he said.

"For more than a year we have a solid relationship with all of exchange and cooperation, and that is the way we have been able to reach 83% of suspensions of content that are harmful to the electoral process", said the magistrate.

Google has given the Court, like Twitter and Facebook, training in addressing citizen complaints, and Panama is the first Spanish-speaking country to offer a real-time solution for citizens to make them as part of the iniciayive "Court with you", which is an application.

In addition, the "Digital Media Unit is successfully monitoring the networks randomly to be able to look for those warning signs for the process that is the spreading of false news, use of 'call center' or call centers of false accounts or 'bots' or repetition algorithms "to try to influence the electorate, said Juncá.

Even so, the magistrate acknowledged that in terms of social networks "there is no human way to prevent someone from launching a false news or using a false account, there is no way to do it".

But the reforms that apply to the process next May, when Panamanians will elect the new president and vice president, deputies, mayors, corregimiento representatives and councilors, go beyond the networks and establish new responsibilities for the Tribunal, such as the organization and financing of primary elections held by political parties.

Also the incorporation of ceilings in the electoral expenses of the candidates and the restriction to only 2 months of electoral campaign, which in the past elections of 2014 lasted a year.

Juncá said these changes seek "to help with the balance and to avoid that those people who have more money or who are more popular than others, have better possibilities of being able to aspire to a position of popular election".

The proselytizing campaign in Panama will officially begin next March 4, in full carnivals, the most popular celebration in the country.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/panama-faces-electoral-campaign-new-rules-and-networks-great-challenge-9366

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OFF THE CUFF; Sick bed to power bid

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Posted 01/03/2019
 
While citizen groups are ratcheting up a“no to reelection campaign targeting cookie jar plundering deputies, ex-president Ricardo Martinelli,  from his residence in El Renacer prison, continues to strive to achieve a lower seat at the legislative table than he occupied last time around.  While he tries to convince judges that he is medically unfit for jail, he continues his bid for office as a stepping stone to another run at the presidency in 2024.

Meanwhile a day after it was announced that the Fifth Electoral Court rejected challenges filed against ex-his  candidacies for Mayor of Panama or for a deputy seat in the National Assembly  La Prensa reported that The US Embassy in Panama has "been observing the case carefully" and the former president "clearly has not lived in Panama for a year" after he "fled" to the United States in the midst  of wiretapping allegations.

"At the request of the Panamanian Government, he was extradited, and the United States only extradites in cases in which the evidence merits his return for prosecution," the Embassy told La Prensa.

Electoral judge Elvia María Rengifo considers that the complaints were "inadmissible because the electoral residence had to be challenged at the time when the voter registry for the elections of May 5 was being purged. - between May 16 and June 18, 2018. That is, it had to be done electoral judge seven days after Martinelli was extradited and before he was named as a candidate.

The plaintiffs argued that he does not meet the requirements set out in the law to be a candidate since he does not have a year residing in the area he wants to represent, as stipulated in the Electoral Code.

They stated that he left the country on January 28, 2015, and settled in Miami, and was returned extradited to Panama on June 11, 2018.

Jorge Hernán Rubio, who made the complaint said yesterday that the judge rejected the challenges "without processing" the evidence, relying on the "thesis" of Carlos Carrillo, Martinelli's lawyer, who argues that his candidacy is legitimate since Martinelli appears in the voter registry as a resident of circuit 8-8. "We consider that there is a constitutional violation," said Rubio.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/off-the-cuff-sick-bed-to-power-bid

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Panama election runners get green light

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Presidential hopefuls

Posted 04/03/2019
 
In the midst of Carnival celebrations, Panama politicians got the green light on Monday, March  4 to begin trumpeting their promises and inducements for the next 60 days in the shortest election campaign in the country’s democratic history.

An unprecedented seven candidates are vying for the presidency, including three independents while on the sidelines civic groups and disillusioned voters are promoting a “no to reelection” campaign aimed primarily at lawmakers in the National Assembly whose self-serving antics and corruption linked activities have been targeted by the Comptroller General.

Former president Ricardo Martinelli is aiming to run as a candidate for an Assembly seat or for Mayor of Panama City.  while he is facing trial for alleged illegal wiretapping of political opponents and others who may have displeased him. If found guilty he could face up to 21 years behind bars, with the possibility that his two sons, awaiting an extradition hearing in Miami, could be nearby in El Renacer prison awaiting trial in money laundering and other corruption cases.

The Electoral Tribunal (TE) says that until May 2, it will remain vigilant so that consensual norms are not violated in the electoral law, such as the prohibition of dirty campaigns and the use of public resources in proselytizing.  

Through social networks, the TE reminds proselytizers that it is forbidden to paste, paint or wallpaper fixed electoral propaganda in places that affect the environment, or on public buildings or monuments, and for its remaining hour's candidates cannot be promoted at carnival events

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-election-runners-get-green-light

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46,000 give support from the grave

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Posted 07/03/2019
 
Some 46,000 signatures of dead people appeared on the lists of supporters of would-be independent candidates in the upcoming election according to the electoral prosecutor Eduardo Peñaloza and he wants the activists who harvested the ghostly crop, brought to account.

Peñaloza said that in the province of Panama there are 377 identified activists, in Chiriquí 453, in Bocas del Toro 54, and in Santiago, Las Tablas, Herrera and Coclé a total of 162.

"There are processes that we are going to take so that it does not happen again because it is serious, in the sense that deceased people have supposedly signed," he said. If, in addition, they manage to identify an "instigator", the "hand" of justice will achieve it.” He said.

In December of last year, the director of Electoral Organization of the Electoral Tribunal, Osman Valdés, handed over more than 3,000 death certificates, which to begin an investigation for the alleged crime of impersonation.
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/46000-give-support-from-the-grave

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Panama’s flawed campaign funding

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Taxpayer funded flags

Posted 09/03/2019
 
May 5, 2019, is a day in which all citizens of legal age have the right to vote in general elections. Each one of those suffrages is equal to the others. But that equality between voters is not extended to the candidates since the candidates for elected office are competing on an unequal plane. Thus, while each one of the presidential independent candidates received $1.46 per signature, each political party obtained $1.579 million for the simple fact of being an organization recognized by the Electoral Tribunal. Additionally, the five parties that competed in the 2014 elections have more than $30 million in financing paid from the taxes of all citizens, and that they are distributed according to the votes received in the last presidential election. This is a perverse scheme that does not disguise the inequality in public financing, and that also subjects independent candidates to the campaign spending caps applicable in this election, and to the rule that electoral advertising can only be paid with public funds. In a perfect world, in which there were no National Assembly forms, donations to foundations controlled by deputies or the mysterious $400 bats, it could be assumed that unequal competition is casual. A task for the next commission of electoral reforms.-LA PRENSA, Mar 9
 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/panamas-flawed-campaign-funding

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Evaporation of belief in state bodies

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Executive power rests here

Posted 09/03/2019
 
As over 2.7 million Panamanians await the slings and arrows of outrageous blandishments promises and lies from candidates running for reelection and the key to the cookie jar, a  published recent report shows that they have little confidence in the country’s institutions.

The political parties, and the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, all lost points in the indicators of citizen confidence between 2013 and 2017 says the “Vision País” 2025 report, prepared by the Panamanian Association of Business Executives, which analyzed the possible causes of that scenario.

The document warns about the non-solution of the country's structural problems related to education, water, health, social security, and justice. It points to the increase in unemployment, the continued hiring of companies that confess to having paid bribes and the non-attribution in judicial cases of figures linked to the Executive. It does not mention which ones but Odebrecht and malefactors in the Blue Apple scandal would top most people’s list.

In addition, it refers to an Assembly marked by a "clientelistic scheme", and the participation of deputies in the use of public funds through community boards. They criticize the efforts of the Legislative Board to maintain the execution of its budget in opacity, even in the face of Court rulings that ask for it to be made public.

The control that the deputies have over the political parties is also reflected in the report.

It also points out that there is little independence of the Court, judicial default and opacity in the decisions of the judges, among other aspects.

The most resounding fall was the political parties and the Executive, who lost 15 and 18 points, respectively, between 2013 and 2017.

In 2013, the confidence that Panamanians had in political parties was 25%, while in 2017 it was 10%.

The Executive went down from 37% to 19%.

The document, which has been discussed with the presidential candidates, uses indicators of citizen confidence measured by the Latinobarómetro organization, based in Chile.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/evaporation-of-belief-in-state-bodies

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Presidential Runner Backtracks On Martinelli Pardon

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Jose Isobel Blandon

Posted 16/03/2019
 
"If To Build Consensus And Make A Unity Government It was necessary to pardon Ricardo Martinelli, I would do so without hesitation," said Panama Mayor and presidential candidate of the Panameñista and Popular parties,  José Isabel Blandón in a Thursday  March 14 interview, on Portobelo Stereo , in Colon,: "If to pacify the country and get us to concentrate on what we should like the reactivation of the economy, the constitutional change and the Social Security Fund,  I would accede to a pardon to Martinelli.

On Friday in a meeting with La Prensa about his statement Blandón clarified that he did not promise to pardon Martinelli. However, he said it is important to look ahead and build the necessary consensus, "for which he would be willing to make difficult decisions, but always in respect of the rule of law."

In addition, he recalled that Article 184 of the Constitution provides that the form of pardon only applies to political crimes and an existing sentence, so a president could not approve a pardon that does not meet these two

Martinelli faces trial for allegedly ordering the intervention of communications from opponents, from the offices of the National Security Council, in the last two years of his term.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/presidential-runner-backtracks-on-martinelli-pardon

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The health odyssey of a wannabe mayor

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Martinelli leaving Sato Tomas ro return to prison after health checki

Posted 16/03/2019
 
As the Martinelli not so merry-go-round continues, commentators across the country have turned to the ex-president’s alleged health problems as he awaits trial and a potentially lengthy jail term

Rolando Rodríguez in La Prensa has his own unique take on the situation. On Saturday, March 15 he wrote:

I must confess that the health and physical recovery of Ricardo Martinelli is simply formidable, unparalleled. He is 67 years old, but his recovery is that of a healthy adolescent, despite suffering from a series of chronic and improvised illnesses that leave one speechless. I was reviewing the list. I think the review is complete, but I'm not sure, because the variations on this list is something that needs to be reviewed every month. Let's see:

Hypercholesterolemia (increased cholesterol), sleep apnea, prostatic hypertrophy and prostatism, glaucoma, ventral hernia, anxiety, nonspecific constipation, ocular hypertension, astigmatism. The most serious are their heart conditions, which go through coronary problems, atrial fibrillation (arrhythmia); Ischemic heart disease, chronic hypertension and suffered even had a heart attack that only his doctor recognized.

His spokesmen have said that he has had a stroke threat, that he suffered terminal prostate cancer - from which he has recovered completely and miraculously - and now his doctors have found him a psychiatric illness, apparently transitory, that leaves him out of the trial for three weeks. In the United States, when he was on vacation before his extradition, he went through a angioplasty and vascular stenting process, although he wrote that the matter was more serious: "I am about to open my heart."

The severity of his suffering has forced him, even, to request the services of a priest to give him the holy oils, since he was going through a delicate condition of health, announced his spokesman Luis Eduardo Camacho and his wife, Marta Linares. I have lost the account of the hospitalizations (including that of the intensive care room), exams, transfers to hospitals, which he has endured.

In spite of the magnitude of his its serious ailments, he has taken the decision not to take the medicines to alleviate his heart affections or has avoided examinations, since it requires specialists doctors in and private hospitals rather the garbage that is in the public ones.

Vocation  
 His multiple and serious illnesses have not minimally diminished his deep vocation for public service.  Martinelli has made it clear that he is willing to leave the hospital bed to walk the streets. He has demanded that he be allowed to campaign to be a deputy of the Assembly and mayor of the capital district, which means an extreme effort to be a cancer survivor, a heart attack, his threat of stroke and now his mental condition, which, according to his doctor, puts his own existence at risk.

There is no doubt: this man is great among the greats.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/media-watch/the-health-odyssey-of-a-wannabe-mayor-1

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Challenge to ex-ruler’s mayoralty bid ok'd

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No relief for Martinelli anxiety

Posted 14/03/2019
 
Ex-president Ricardo Martinelli’s ambition to run for mayor of Panama City in the May 5 election took a body blow on Thursday, March 14. And could add to the anxiety and depression problems that led him to court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.

While he was with forensic psychiatrists The  Electoral Tribunal (TE) admitted the challenges filed by   Jorge Hernán Rubio and Daniel Ramírez Bal, against his candidacies for the Mayor's Office and deputy of the 8-8 circuit.

The ruling a decision of the Fifth Electoral Court of February 27, which rejected the challenges presented by Rubio as unfounded.

TE Judges Eduardo Valdés and Alfredo Juncá voted in favor of the admission; Mirta Varela de Durá, substitute for the magistrate Heriberto Araúz, saved her vote.

The basis for the challenges is the electoral residence of the former president, who has been held in the El Renacer Prison since June 11 while he is being tried for illegal wiretapping and embezzlement.

Rubio argued that the applications do not comply with the provisions of numeral 5 of article 290 of the Electoral Code,  which requires the candidate to reside in that district at least one year before the election. "Allowing applications is to circumvent the right of voters," he said.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/challenge-to-ex-rulers-mayoralty-bid-okd

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