Cinta Costera referendum is dead Electoral Tribunal

The localized referendum on the future of the Cinta Costera proposed by President Ricardo Martinelli got the thumbs down from the country’s Electoral Tribunal (TE) on Wednesday, July 6.

Opponents of the extension had criticized the referendum because it involved only San Felipe, Santa Ana and El Chorrilo. An orchestrated campaign involving the  payment of $6 a head for “demonstrators” wearing orange  of shirts and bandanas, to march from Chorillo into Casco Viejo was seen as a sign that the referendum might have been weighted against those who so not want the CInta Costera to encircle the old city.

They pointed out too that the either-or choice omitted  the  tunnel that Martinelli had first espoused, and that it did not include alternatives put forward by opponents.

"It's a pity," Martinelli said after receiving   the decision of the TE … "I wanted to do in good faith”
With the referendum, he had hoped that the inhabitants of the three districts would approve the third phase either encircling Casco Viejo or running a roadway across the Bay  of Paname. Lawyers had warned that the consultation in specific areaswould violate the basic principles of participatory democracy and theConstitution.

Jurists  Emerald Troitiño and  Miguel Antonio Bernal stated that Casco Viejo  is a World Heritage Site, so the choice could not be limited to  three areas. The Electoral Tribunal agreed. One round to  opponents, but Martinelli’s  drive to get it done, dubbed, “My way the Highway” is unlikely to falter.