Electoral reforms  -“Democratic stagnation and opacity”

José Ramón Icaza, president of Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture( Cciap)  has labeled the electoral reforms passed by the National  Assembly  as “democratic stagnation amid opacity and convenience.”

In the Chamber’s Sunday newsletter The union criticizes the approval while the citizenry had their backs turned, in the middle of the night, and recalls that it is a project that in importance surpasses any other since it is about the rules for choosing just over 4,000 candidates to more than 800 popularly elected positions in 2024.

The CCIAP says that it was expected to constitute another step in the evolution of Panamanian democracy towards a more participatory and inclusive system, but, on the other hand, ” the management and orientation of the discussions prevent us from having any hope in this regard.”

“ Today, just as it did when the Electoral Tribunal [TE] withdrew from the discussion due to the arbitrariness of some deputies, the CCIAP raises its voice to denounce the opacity in the management and the intentions of the deputies, but also the passivity of who are called to be the custodians of the main democratic instrument. In the second debate of bill 544, the TE magistrates had the duty to defend transcendental issues, such as the allocation of seats in the multi-member circuits, which openly disputes with the system of direct elections established by the ‘Political Constitution’. As it was expected, they would defend their proposal to review the electoral jurisdiction, it passed as found in the current ‘Electoral Code’ ”, the union maintains.