José Raúl Mulino Legally Allowed to Run for President of Panama

José Raúl Mulino will be able to participate as a presidential candidate for the elections on May 5.  The majority of the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice declared that the second operative paragraph of Agreement 11-1 of March 4, 2024 of the Electoral Tribunal (TE), which designated him as presidential candidate of the Realizing Goals parties (RM) and Alianza, replacing Ricardo Martinelli, will stand and is lawful.

Until the issuance of said agreement, Mulino was a candidate for vice president on the list headed by Martinelli.  “At the historical moment in which we find ourselves, it is to defend our homeland and democracy, as well as institutions, social peace, the right to choose and be elected, political pluralism, without forgetting the important role that political parties play in the strengthening of democracy. And what we have considered most important, the sovereign will of the Panamanian people,” expressed the president of the Court, María Eugenia López Arias.In reading the arguments, Judge López expressed that it is appropriate to allow political parties to continue having representation and maintain their right to elect and be elected in this Sunday’s elections.  “Therefore, the plenary session of the Supreme Court, administering justice in the name of the Republic and by authority of the law, declares that the second operative paragraph of the plenary agreement number 11-1 of March 4, 2024 preferred by the Electoral Court,” the judge read in a conference in the Gabriel Elías Fernández cassation room, of the Gil Ponce Palace of Justice, in Ancón, accompanied by the rest of the judges.  To the left of her was Olmedo Arrocha, rapporteur of the ruling.  The decision was communicated at 5:30 am Friday, May 3, after an extraordinary and permanent session of the full Court that began Tuesday, April 30.