New judges could decide Court president

THE DECIDING votes on who will be president  of Panama’s Supreme Court during the next two years, could be in the hands of two new judges, sworn in  on Monday Jan. 4.

The election is marked by uncertainty because neither of the two candidates has the five votes necessary to be elected reports La Prensa.

Current Chief Justice José Ayú Prado concludes his tenure after a turbulent time in office which saw two justices resign due to corruption investigations and a wide-spread investigation that resulted in the arrests of numerous lower court officials for irregularities involving decisions, including jury tampering. He was also the “most traveled”, making journey’s to conferences and events around the world, earning him criticism, as the court faces  a backlog of cases.

The two candidates for chief justice are Luis Ramón Fábrega and Harry Díaz. But neither has garnered the five votes needed for election. When Ayu Prado was elected in 2014, three rounds of voting were needed, In the first round, Fabrega was nominated and received four votes. Victor Benavides received four votes. Díaz abstained, refusing to break the tie.

In the second round, Ayu Prado was nominated and achieved three votes, gaining the support of Fabrega and Díaz. He then received the five votes he needed on the third round.

According to La Prensa sources, Fabrega has the support of Ayu Prado and Hernán De León.

Fabrega and De Leon maintain internal differences with Diaz and are unlikely to give him their vote,  Diaz is supported by Oydén Ortega, Jerome Mejía and Abel Zamorano, the alternate for Alejandro Moncada Luna, giving him four votes along with his own.