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Panama is in turmoil due to the efforts of President Ricardo
Martinelli to resurrect a defunct specialized court within the Supreme
Court that would allow him to pack that body and possibly pave the way
for his reelection.
First, some context: The nine-Justice Panamanian Supreme Court is
divided in four specialized courts dealing with specific areas of the
law (civil, criminal, administrative and general government business).
The first three specialized courts have 3 justices each, while the
fourth one (dealing with general government business) is formed by the
presidents of each of the three other specialized courts.
There used to be a Fifth Court dealing with constitutional issues.
However, in 1999 Congress passed a law that abolished that body. Now,
constitutional cases are dealt by the nine-Justice Supreme Court as a
whole.
Last year the Supreme Court, whose chief justice is a close associate
of Martinelli, ruled that the law abolishing the Fifth Court was
illegal. This created a legal vacuum since nobody knows for sure whether
that means that the old Fifth Court should be reinstated or a new one
should be created.
Martinelli seized on the controversial ruling by the Supreme Court
and introduced a bill in Congress that would create a Fifth Court. If
approved, the new court would have three new justices (appointed by
Martinelli) and would deal with constitutional issues, one of them being
the constitutionality of presidential term limits. The Panamanian
Constitution currently bars a sitting president from running for a
consecutive term. The president has to step out for two terms before
running again for office. Many in Panama fear that Martinelli’s ultimate
goal with the Fifth Court is to get rid of term limits.
Let’s not forget that a similar ploy was recently used by Daniel
Ortega in Nicaragua to run for reelection despite the Constitution
explicitly barring him from doing it. There, a friendly Supreme Court
ruled that presidential term limits were unconstitutional and thus
enabled Ortega to run again (and win the election).
Despite enjoying a large majority in Congress, where Martinelli has
bought off many lawmakers, the opposition was able to filibuster the
bill creating the Fifth Court. However, thanks to the nebulous ruling by
the Supreme Court last year, Martinelli is now threatening with
appointing the 3 new justices even without a law passed by Congress. A
constitutional crisis seems inevitable.
A recent poll published by the daily La Prensa showed that
70 percent of Panamanians regarded Martinelli as “authoritarian” and 73
percent were concerned for the future of democracy their country. Amid
strong criticism for his autocratic tendencies, for his attacks against freedom of speech,
and for using tax audits to persecute his political opponents, the
Fifth Court affair certainly shows that Ricardo Martinelli is the most
dangerous man for democracy and rule of law in Central America after
Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega.
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