Referendum a  poisoned gift for next administration

The bill approved in Cabinet Council that to establish an additional ballot in the next general elections with the intention of reforming the Constitution could be  a shipwreck and a poisoned gift for the next administration says Rubén Castillo former president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (Apede),

In Castillo’s opinion, the move raises the question of “pressuring public opinion through the fifth ballot”, where it will be established whether or not the Magna Carta should be reformed.

The question that we would have to ask ourselves is: What would happen if the citizens decide that they do not want a Constitutional reform? or if, overwhelmingly, by a majority, the structure or constitutional design of our country must be completely changed.

Most likely, the consultation will “be shipwrecked by political issues.” “That is to say since it came from the Executive, it is a kind of poisoned gift and that  is the thought that the majority has in the Assembly and consequently it will end with a negative,” said Castillo

“Would it not it be good to seriously debate this issue? Know what citizens think? “If we do not do it quickly, we run the risk of going down a road that has no return, where citizen participation has been affected because democracy has been eroded,” stressed the former president of Apede.

What worries Castillo the most is that “the list of possible candidates” for the Presidency “does not have a clear definition of what is wanted”, and that this may have consequences in a superficial debate.