This phase begins despite the fact that the Electoral Tribunal (TE) has not yet responded to a request for the suspension of some decisions of the National Executive Committee (CEN), in which there are about 114 positions of deputies, mayors and corregimiento representatives, with the pretext that to reserve these rooms in order to negotiate eventual alliances with other parties. The request for suspension was made by the former deputy and former secretary general of the PRD, Pedro Miguel González.
According to the newspaper La Prensa, the first day of nominations is expected To the vice-president of the republic, José Gabriel Carrizo, as a candidate for head of state, an aspiration he carried out on February 5 in a proselytizing act in the town of Penonomé , province of Coclé.
Another candidate for the presidency of the republic is Deputy Crispiano Adames, current President of the National Assembly (Parliament), who previously announced this purpose during meetings with members of the political organization in the western province of Chiriquí.
Meanwhile, González, who leads the so-called grassroots movement for national rescue, announced that this faction would bet on other names, including former Panamanian President Martín Torrijos (2004-2009) and former Health Minister Rosario Turner.
According to González, the PRD needs those numbers to win the May 2024 consultation, but he figured if he didn’t have it, he could personally take on that challenge.
While the mystery surrounding the new applicant has been resolved and TE is responding to González’s request, other officials will apply starting tomorrow, Monday, including former director of the Institute for Training and Use of Human Resources (Ifarhu), Bernardo Meneses, who seeks a seat for the Arraiján district, despite being challenged for mismanagement of that institution’s public funds.
According to the schedule, the last day to apply for the PRD primaries is March 8th.
In view of the parliamentary elections in 2024 and after strong criticism from its own members, the PRD reduced the reserves of popularly elected positions to 114.
As for this decision, González himself claimed that “it curtails internal democracy by attempting to reserve elected positions throughout the national geography”. The aspirations of party membership are restricted and the law, the charter and the electoral law and the constitutional right to vote and be elected are violated.
On May 5, 2024, Panamanians will elect the country’s new president and vice-president, 20 members of the Central American Parliament, 71 members of the National Assembly, 81 mayors, 701 members of the Corregimiento and 11 councillors, all with their alternates. , for the period from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2029.
lam/ga