The Panamanian justice system endorses at the last minute the candidacy of José Raúl Mulino, Martinelli’s dolphin

On the eve of this Sunday’s elections, Panama’s highest court has ended the uncertainty surrounding the presidential candidacy of José Raúl Mulino, the replacement for the disqualified former president Ricardo Martinelli, who leads all polls. Amid enormous expectations, the Supreme Court of Justice, meeting in an extraordinary session since Tuesday, decided early this Friday that “the previous decision of the electoral authorities to replace Martinelli with his vice-presidential formula is not unconstitutional.”

Mulino entered the campaign in March as a replacement for Martinelli, who is taking refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy, ​​after the popular former president was disqualified after being sentenced to more than ten years in prison for money laundering. The discredited polls place him as the favorite to win at the polls this May 5, in an election in which Panamanians abroad have already begun to cast their votes. The last survey before the electoral ban period that prohibits public acts of proselytism, published this Thursday by the newspaper The Pressgave him 37% of voting intention, above the other three candidates who have been quite even in their fight for second place: former president Martín Torrijos (16.4%), Rómulo Roux (14.9%) and Ricardo Lombana (12.7%).

The demand for unconstitutionality kept Panamanians in suspense. Several former presidents, some of his rivals and even the outgoing president, Laurentino Cortizo, who is leaving power with low popularity ratings, had highlighted the need for clean and transparent elections in which Mulino could participate. Other sectors, however, have insistently denounced the electoral maneuvers of the convicted Martinelli. The challenge contended that Mulino’s appointment was unconstitutional because his party did not select him and lacks a running mate to be his vice president if he were elected. The high court rejected these arguments in a decision supported by eight of the nine judges, which contemplated the defense of institutions, social peace, the right to elect and be elected and political pluralism, as declared by the president of the Supreme Court, María Eugenia López.

While the Court debated in extremis whether to confirm Mulino’s nomination or declare it unconstitutional, the candidate of the Realizing Goals (RM) and Alianza parties had met on Wednesday with members of the observer mission of the Organization of American States (OAS). to update them on the situation. At the end of that meeting, in which he was accompanied by some of his lawyers, Martinelli’s former Minister of Security and Government had defended that, regardless of the court’s deliberations, he intended to participate on Sunday as “a firm candidate.” . Justice, at the time, has ended up agreeing with him.

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