List of 153 Supreme Court wannabees to be published

BOWING to pressure from civil groups, Panamaa’s government has judiciously decided to publish the name of all the 153 members of the legal community who put their names forward for a seat in the Supreme Court.

On  Monday, November 16, the names of the candidates for election will be published on the Presidency website. The next day- the Executive will announce the 10 candidates selected from the list. of

The   announcement was made by President Juan Carlos Varela in Los Santos. On Tuesday , November 10 and  confirmed by the Minister of the Presidency, Alvaro Aleman. The fantasy of those who invented that we had a parallel list is over. There is no such parallel list,” he said.

The final  10 candidates will be subject to scrutiny by civil society, and the selection committee composed of five persons, including Minister of the Presidency.

Originally  Aleman had  said that only the names of the 10 selected, would be known.

However, under pressure from various sectors and organizations, such as the Citizens Alliance for Justice, President Varela relented and announced that the full list will be disclosed.

“Everything will be transparent,” he said.

According to the president, only 10 names will be subject to debate, since discussing the list of 153 “would create an excess of the debate.”

In  October the  Citizens Alliance for Justice suggested to the Executive that, once the period of nominations for the posts  of Supreme Court, was over  the list of applicants should be published on the internet portal of the Ministry of the Presidency.