Pinilla Raises The Possibility Of New Mayoral Elections

By Carlos Estrada Aguilar for La Critica - The President of Panama's Electoral Tribunal, Erasmo Pinilla, recognized yesterday that among the possible legal outcomes in the case of Mayor-elect Bosco Vallarino, is a call for new elections. Although the judge said he hoped to not arrive at this decision to hold new elections, he did accept that it is within the realm of possibilitites. He also raised the scenario that Vallarino might retain his credentials as the Mayor-elect, and that Juan Carlos Navarro must remain in the position until they resolve the case of the Panameñista, because the Mayorship cannot be without a leader. "This is a case that is following due process, it is a jurisdictional case, and until it is resolved no other criteria can be advanced," he said. Pinilla said the advance of the case depends on Bosco Vallarino turning over some required documents to the Civil Registry, such as his US passport and this naturalization papers. The Director of the Civil Registry, Sharon Dumanoi, said yesterday Bosco has not gone to be notified of a resolution in which authorities ask him to present those documents. (See Comments)

Editor's Comment: The Electoral Tribunal is floating a trial balloon here. They want to gauge the reaction to the possibility of holding new elections should they decide to nullify (Noriega-style) the results of the May 2009 elections in which Panamanian born Bosco Vallarino won the election to be the next Mayor of Panama City with 45% of the vote compared to 39% for Bobby Velasquez and 14% for Miguel Antonio Bernal. Vallarino obtained US citizenship while living in the country as a political refugee, and now they are trying to say that makes him ineligible to be the Mayor of Panama City. In my opinion he was born in Panama, he's a Panamanian, and he won. All of these games regarding Bosco's dual citizenship arose in the middle of allegations made by David Murcia that he had donated $6 million dollars to the political campaigns of two PRD candidates - Bobby Velasquez and Balbina Herrera - both of whom were soundly defeated in the polls. This entire issue was created by the PRD campaigns as a way to counter-fire the entire Murcia scandal (which is still being investigated). In my humble opinion it should be dropped completely and recognized as little more than politically motivated shenanigans. If the Electoral Tribunal, which is dominated by judges appointed by the PRD, decides to do anything else, such as strip Bosco Vallarino of his electoral victory and call for new elections, then that will be a great dissapointment and an exceptionally negative reflection on the mandate of President Martin Torrijos, who is also the Secretary General of the PRD. It is within his power to call "knock it off" on this entire show right now (behind the scenes of course.) Unless, of course, Torrijos wants to be remembered as the Panamanian President who kicked democracy right in the nuts as a last great act of politically motivated defiance. In a word, it's bullshit.

¿Nuevas elecciones?

Carlos Estrada Aguilar (carlos.estrada@epasa.com) | Crítica en Línea

El presidente del Tribunal Electoral, Erasmo Pinilla, reconoció ayer que entre las posibilidades jurídicas del caso del alcalde capitalino electo, Bosco Ricardo Vallarino, está la convocatoria de nuevos comicios.

Aunque el magistrado dijo que esperaba no llegar a esa decisión de celebrar nuevas elecciones, aceptó que esa es una de las posibilidades.

También planteó el escenario que a Vallarino se le retenga su credencial como alcalde electo y que Juan Carlos Navarro tenga que permanecer en el cargo hasta que ellos resuelva el estatus migratorio del Panameñista, porque la Alcaldía no puede quedar en acefalía.

"Este es un caso que está siguiendo el debido proceso, es un caso jurisdiccional y hasta tanto no se resuelva no se puede adelantar ningún otro criterio", dijo.

Pinilla explicó que el avance del caso depende de las aportaciones de algunos documentos requeridos a Bosco por el Registro Civil, como su pasaporte norteamericano y su carta de naturalización.

La Directora de Registro Civil, Sharon Dumanoi, indicó ayer que Bosco no ha ido a notificarse de la resolución donde las autoridades le piden que presente dichos documentos.