Supreme Court of Panama rejects lawsuit and endorses candidacy of Martinelli’s replacement

The Supreme Court of Justice of Panama endorsed on Friday the presidential candidacy of José Raúl Mulinowho replaced former president Ricardo Martinelli and leads the voting intention polls, by rejecting a lawsuit that asked to cancel his candidacy for Sunday’s elections.

The majority ruling of the highest court, two days before the vote, cleared the way for Mulino, 64, who in March received authorization from the electoral authorities to replace Martinelli in the formula of the Realizing Goals and Alliance parties. He former president was disqualified after confirming a sentence against him of more than 10 years in prison for money laundering, and he is refugee in the Nicaraguan embassy.

The magistrates dismissed the lawsuit against Mulino’s nomination that had been presented by lawyer Karisma Etienne Karamañites, in her personal capacity, arguing that whoever was a candidate for vice president with Martinelli could not be eligible as president because his nomination was not submitted to primaries in the party. Goals. Other jurists also argued that allowing Mulino to appear in the elections without a companion on the ballot went against what the Constitution establishes.

“What has moved this constitutional court at the historical moment in which we find ourselves is to defend our democracy as well as the institutions, social peace, the right to choose and be elected,” said the presiding judge of the Court, María Eugenia López. , accompanied by the other eight judges of the Panamanian Supreme Court. The ruling was endorsed by eight of the nine judges.

The magistrate in charge of processing the lawsuit, Olmedo Arrocha, had said last week that in the period of receiving allegations they had received 71 arguments in favor of Mulino continuing in the race and 17 against.

Mulino, a lawyer and former Minister of Security in the previous Martinelli government (2009-2014), had quickly risen to the electoral preferences thanks to Martinelli, a supermarket magnate who maintains high popularity in Panama despite his troubles with the justice and corruption scandals.

The former president led a period of strong economic growth thanks to the construction of major works such as the expansion of the canal and the first line of the capital’s metro.

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