The former President of the Republic Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal would not have any legal impediment to be the presidential standard-bearer of his Realizing Goals (RM) party, in the next general elections of 2024.

Taking into account that the third criminal judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, Baloisa Marquínez, summoned 36 people charged with the crime of money laundering, for the Odebrecht case, including former President Martinelli, to trial, and considering that the plenary hearing date would be from August 1 to 18, 2023, and the alternate date from September 27 to October 17, 2023, the times, according to some jurists, would not allow for the former ruler to be disqualified with a final sentence and duly executed against him, issued before the general elections of May 5, 2024.

While the preliminary hearing for the New Business case, in which the former president is also mentioned, is scheduled to take place on November 29.

In accordance with article 180 of the Political Constitution of Panama: “Anyone who has been convicted of an intentional crime with a custodial sentence of five years or more may not be elected president or vice president of the Republic, through an enforceable sentence issued by a court. of Justice”.

In this sense, the lawyer Ernesto Cedeño stated that, constitutionally, neither former president Martinelli nor any of the others linked to the Odebrecht case who meet the requirements would have impediments to be presidential candidates.

Even, Cedeño pointed out, if a ruling is made against them, they can appeal to the Superior Court of Appeals, and if a decision is made against them, they would surely go to appeal. “Many cases of this type can last for months and even years,” he said.

He stated that already in the middle of the hearing, the 2024 general elections would be just around the corner, although he specified that he could not launch a hypothesis as to whether Martinelli will be a candidate or not. “It would be necessary to see how quickly the processes are carried out. In all trials evidence is practiced and the judge has a term to rule. It seems that the times are very tight, but it is not impossible; the time it takes for the judges to rule has a lot to do with this, ”he indicated.

For his part, the university professor and lawyer Miguel Antonio Bernal pointed out that the procedural times do not allow for them to disqualify former President Martinelli. “This is so, because the legal remedies that will undoubtedly be filed will not allow him to be disqualified, except for an illegitimate action by the government,” Bernal said.

While the former vice president of the National Bar Association (CNA) Alfonso Fraguela stated that by setting dates for the hearings by the Judicial Branch in the cases of Odebrecht and New Business, he perceives that time allows former president Ricardo Martinelli to run to aspire to the presidential throne.

“The dates (of hearings) fall at the moment when the political parties begin to warm up their engines and reveal the figures that will be the candidates in the 2024 general elections. I have no doubt that the former president will do what he has to do, to run,” said Fraguela.

He stated that whoever thinks that this will not happen is unaware that Ricardo Martinelli is a political animal. “The times of the trials in the Judicial Branch do not affect the times of politics,” he assured.