Ex Attorney General confident of taking Assembly seat

ANA MATILDE GÓMEZ, a newly elected independent deputy is confident she will defeat those who want to take away her seat in the National Assembly.

The feisty former Attorney General is no stranger to being targeted. She was railroaded from office by the Martinelli administration for wiretapping a judge charged with soliciting bribes to reduce sentences, and early in her mandate withstood attacks from a Supreme Court judge.

She won her seat on May 4 with 19,368 votes more than the notorious distributor of hams and turkeys to voters, Sergio Galvez, the self-described “sexual bull,” currently presiding over the National Assembly.
The ex AG told an audience of women’s groups:" Those who believed that they can disqualify me from holding public office by my suspending civil rights, are wrong, because that is not the way to suspend civil rights. Citizens’ rights are only suspended by the Electoral Tribunal and they have already ruled” she said.
Last week, attorney Alejandro Perez filed a constitutional motion in the Supreme Court objecting to the proclamation of the Gomez as a candidate for the Assembly and said that Erasmo Pinilla the presiding judge of the Electoral Tribunal, was negligent in accepting the nomination, knowing that Gomez had a four -year ban from holding public office, reports La Prensa
This Friday at 10:00 am, Gomez will face a hearing of the Court in which the full sentence will be evaluated.
Gomez clarified that the measure is due to a request she filed based on Article 118 of the Criminal Code, which allows you to ask the same court that sentenced you to check if you have met the requirements for good behavior and completing two years of the sentence and other items that can enable, her to exercise her rights in the assembly [as a member] from July 1.
According to Gomez, the judges may respond the same day or within 10 days.
The statements came at a meeting of the Women's Alliance of Panama, the National Women's Forum of Political Parties , the Group Parity Initiative and the Center for Gender Studies and Skills .
Elia López Tulipano of the, Women's Forum , said that women's associations will not remain silent with what is happening with the elected deputies . She condemned the fact that President Ricardo Martinelli lashed out at Zulay Rodríguez, of the PRD, and against Gomez.