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Weekly Report - 29 February 2024 (WR-24-08)
PANAMA: Key absence overshadows first presidential debate
The first debate between presidential candidates ahead of Panama’s elections on 5 May has taken place, although headlines were as much dominated by who did not attend as the exchange itself. The key absentee was former president Ricardo Martinelli (Cambio Democrático, CD, 2009-2014), the hitherto frontrunner, whose money-laundering conviction was recently upheld by the supreme court (CSJ) [WR-24-05] and who is now facing an arrest order. He remains holed up in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City after the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) government led by President Laurentino Cortizo refused to authorise his safe passage to Nicaragua where he has been granted asylum [WR-24-05]. Panama’s electoral authority (TE) has yet to rule on Martinelli’s candidacy for his latest party Realizando Metas (RM), casting further doubt on an already uncertain race.
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