Source: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iachr/country-reports/panama1978-ch8.html
Timestamp: 2014-08-22 07:52:20
Document Index: 791330484

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 109', 'Art. 111', 'Art. 113', 'Art. 114', 'Art. 164', 'Art. 216', 'Art. 210', 'Art. 212']

CHAPTER EIGHT The right to vote and participate in government
District Province Total Votes
Camogantí Chirigana
1. four month sessions (Art. 109)
2. judicial function to hear and try President and Magistrate of Supreme Court
3. to exercise judicial function, Assembly may meet in its own right, without previous consultation (Art. 111)
4. members are not legally responsible for opinions expressed and votes cast in discharge of duties (Art. 113)
5. congressional immunity from arrest and criminal prosecutions without prior authorization of Assembly (Art. 114)
6. principal legislative functions:
h. to establish or change the political division of the national territory
p. to establish taxes, duties, revenues and public monopolies q. to provide for application of national property to public uses
1. limited to one month session
2. broadens the function to include the Vice-President, Attorney General, Solicitor General and Commander in Chief of National Guard
h. only approves such measures proposed by National Legislative Council
l. same
The President is also able to exercise influence over the "autonomous Electoral court described in Article 126. It is composed of three Magistrates elected for seven years, one by the national Assembly, one by the Supreme Court of Justice, and one by the executive organ. The Head of Government who names the Magistrates of the Supreme Court in 1972, in effect, controls the appointment of two of the three members of the Electoral Court, who serve until 1979. Should the Head of Government be elected to the Presidency in 1978, his Supreme Court will still be in office, and he will be able to name two of the three members of the Electoral Court for another seven years. And when the terms of the Supreme Court judges are up in 1982, he will be able to pack the Supreme Court for another ten years. The appointive powers of the President make it possible for him to exercise his influence at the lowest level of administrative and judicial authority. He may appoint and dismiss freely the Governors of the Provinces (Art. 164). The Governor, in turn, is empowered to present the Municipal Council wit a list of three candidates from which it must choose the Mayor (Alcalde de Distrito) and his alternate. (Art. 216) The Mayor serves as head of the Municipal Council and chief of police in his district, and according to the Constitution, cannot be suspended or removed by the national administrative authorities. (Art. 210) However, the Governor may suspend the Mayor (Law No. 106, 8 October 1973), and of course, the Governor is subject to the President. In some cases the Mayor names members of the Municipal Council. The Council is made up of a minimum of five representatives in the National Assembly, but if the number of representatives in a district is less than five, then the Mayor, in agreement with the representatives, appoints as many persons as necessary to fill the remaining posts. (Art. 212) From a list of candidates presented by the representatives, the Mayor also selects the corregidores, who serve as a type of administrative official and justice of the peace in settling minor civil disputes. The average citizen may have an opportunity to participate in government through appointment, but his participation through suffrage counts for very little under the present system.
2. The law many regulate the exercise of the rights and opportunities referred to in the preceding paragraph only on the basis of age, nationality, residence, language, education, civil and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings. 2 Dirección de Estadística y Censo "Estadística Panameña. Estadística Electoral. Elecciones de 1972."