Party boss who wanted merger with CD asked to leave

Members of a Panamanian political party anxious to join with one part of the governing coalition got a set back when the electoral court refused to recognize the merger.

Members of Molirena (Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement Party) who oppose the merger with the Martinelli  Democratic Change (CD) asked the party president Sergio González Ruiz, and his followers who had sought the merger, to leave the party.They suggested they  enroll in the CD. 

“We encourage our members to  continue to defend the independence and effectiveness of Molirena to continue to participate in national events, "said Gilberto Sucre, a spokesman for those who opposed the merger.

The Electoral Court did not approve the merger determining that there were flaws in the last convention. The court recommended a new convention. The CD, which is having problems with its coalition partners, the Panamanista Party  and had trumpeted the merger, when calculating its growing membership strength, will now have to recount.