The Supreme Court of Justice of Panama declared this Friday (05/03/2024) constitutional the presidential candidacy of the right-wing José Raúl Mulino, who is positioned as a favorite to win Sunday’s elections.
The Court “declares that the decision of the Electoral Court, which accepted Mulino’s nomination in place of the disqualified former president Ricardo Martinelli, is not unconstitutional,” said María Eugenia López, president of the judicial body, which has been meeting behind closed doors since Tuesday.
Mulino, a 64-year-old lawyer, replaced Martinelli after confirming a sentence against him of almost 11 years in prison for money laundering, and will seek asylum in the Nicaraguan Embassy.
A private lawyer then filed an unconstitutionality lawsuit against the Electoral Tribunal, arguing that Mulino did not go through primary elections, nor does he have a candidate for vice president, as the laws indicate.
“What has moved” the Court “at the historical moment in which we find ourselves is to defend our homeland and democracy, institutionality, social peace, the right to elect and be elected and political pluralism,” explained the judge. .
The decision of the Supreme Court kept the country in suspense this week in the final stretch of these elections, in which three million Panamanians must elect a president, in a single round and by simple majority, 71 deputies and local governments.
Mulino, former Minister of Security of Martinelli (2009-2014) and candidate of the Realizing Goals (RM) party, has 37.6% voting intention, according to the latest survey by the Planned Marketing firm for the newspaper La Press, published on Thursday.
He is followed by the former social democratic president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009), with 16.4%, in voting intention, and the center-right lawyers Rómulo Roux, with 14.9%, and Ricardo Lombana, with 12.7%
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