President Moscoso's supporters regained control of the Legislative Assembly on September 1, ending two years in which an alliance between the PRD and the former Christian Democrats (Partido Popular) held the assembly's presidency and all the leading committee posts. The change was made possible by the Arnulfistas and their allies backing renegade PRD deputy Carlos Alvarado for the legislature's presidency and gaining the support of several other PRD defectors.

The stage for the legislative takeover was set a couple of days earlier, when the Arnulfista-dominated Supreme Court --- by way of a press release --- put off a decision on the legality of the PRD's move to expel Carlos Afú from the party and from his seat in the assembly.

Last January Afú and Alvarado, along with the father and son team of Tomás Gabriel Altamirano Duque (the suplente who cast the votes) and Tomás Gabriel Altamirano Mantovani (the legislator who stayed away so that his suplente could cast the votes), broke with the PRD to give the president the votes she needed to take over the Supreme Court through the approval of her nominees Winston Spadafora and Alberto Cigarruista. Afú then alleged widespread bribery in the legislature, specifically claiming that he was paid $6,000 to vote in favor of the CEMIS project to expand Colon's France Field Airport and link that facility with the nearby ports, Colon Free Zone and Panama Canal Railroad to create a multi-modal container handling facility. The PRD initiated disciplinary proceedings against Afú, Alvarado and Altamirano Duque, but only put Afú's case on the fast track. In accordance with party statutes and the Panamanian Constitution, the PRD expelled Afú from the party and revoked his legislative mandate. However, the Los Santos deputy, whom fellow PRD legislator Balbina Herrera has accused of taking a large cash bribe to approve Mireya's high court nominees, has fought against his expulsion via multiple legal challenges in the courts and before the Electoral Tribunal.

The Supreme Court's decision to delay the Afú case --- which was bitterly criticized by high court magistrates Graciela Dixon, José Troyano and Arturo Hoyos --- left the PRD renegade in his legislative post. Mireya's supporters plus two PRD defectors added up to just enough votes to carry the day.

When the Legislative Assembly met to choose its officers for the 2002-2003 session, there was further erosion in the PRD's unity. Joining Alvarado and Afú to support Mireya's slate of nominees were Abelardo "Lalo" Antonío (the top vote-getter in Colon in the past two elections), Manuel De La Hoz (Panama City), Arcelio Batista (Bocas del Toro) and Olivia de Pomares (Panama City), the latter through the expedient of staying away and having her suplente Luis Cedeño cast the votes for Alvarado and his running mates.

The defections from PRD ranks were greeted with insults from the party faithful. In one of the strident speeches for which he has become well known, deputy Pedro Miguel González said that the assembly has become "a Persian market where consciences are sold and bought." One of the younger and more popular PRD legislators, radio host "Domplín" Vargas, to throw all of the wayward deputies and alternates from the party and the assembly. So far, however, PRD leader Martín Torrijos has not given his public support for such a purge.

During the course of the September 1 session the rhetoric inside the assembly chambers and from the spectators' gallery was raucous, for example with Arnulfista hecklers trying to disrupt Pedro Miguel González's speech by shouting the name of Zak Hernández. Hernández was a US Army sergeant of Puerto Rican origin whom González was accused of murdering in a 1992 drive-by shooting in Chilibre. Though a Panamanian jury acquitted González and two co-defendants in the case, there is still a US warrant against the legislator and were he to fall into American authorities' custody he would face terrorism charges that could get him the death penalty.

As is customary, the opening session of the legislative year was attended by President Moscoso, her vice-presidents and cabinet, members of the Supreme Court and other dignitaries. One of the latter was the Roman Catholic archbishop of Panama, José Dimas Cedeño, who in the session's invocation called upon God to rehabilitate Panama's politicians and afterwards expressed his disgust about the circus atmosphere.

In the wake of the power shift, outgoing assembly president Rubén Arosemena (Partido Popular - Panama City) handed over keys and inventories to his successor, and most political patronage appointees resigned. An even greater number of unpaid members of legislative advisory committees, many of them without any partisan affiliations, quit rather than work with an Arnulfista-led assembly.

Carlos Alvarado's new team of aides appears to be designed to increase divisions within the PRD. Almost all are PRD dissidents who served in the Pérez Balladares administration. Most notable is Alvarado's top aide, former Labor Minister Mitchell Doens, a Toro sycophant who was met with boos and shouts of "traitor" when he showed up at this past August's PRD national convention.

Alvarado made the gesture of offering committee leadership posts to the PRD, but these were rejected. (Afú, who now heads the Agriculture Committee, was the single exception.) The PRD also announced that it would not participate in any more of President Moscoso's "national dialogues."

In the days following his party's loss of power in the Legislative Assembly, Martín Torrijos appointed a new set of party issue committee leaders that looks almost like a slate of legislative candidates for the 2004 elections. Drawn largely from Panama's white minority and almost entirely from affluent professional circles, Martín's new committee leaders represent the various PRD factions and include some people with family ties to those who went with Alvarado into the new Arnulfista-led legislative coalition.

Not only because of the multiple bribery allegations, polls indicate that the Legislative Assembly is held in low regard by most Panamanians. (The alleged bribes are theoretically under investigation, but Attorney General José Antonio Sossa has postponed any further action until at least next January 6, when the legislators' immunity will briefly lapse unless a special session is called.) A lot can happen between now and May of 2004, but the odds are very good that electorate will cast a "voto de castigo" and unseat most incumbents, in much the same way as they did in 1994. That looming electoral bloodbath, and President Moscoso's veto of legislators' circuit funds, are key factors behind the collapse of PRD unity.

Carlos Alvarado presided over the assembly for a year during the Pérez Balladares administration, and so could not be called a back bencher. However, he has never been one for passionate speeches, nor is his name linked to much important legislation. His survival and success as a legislator have come from bringing home the bacon to his Boquete area constituents. With Mireya's veto of the discretionary funds that conscientious legislators spent on projects in their districts, that political game was abruptly abolished. It is widely rumored, but neither proven, admitted nor denied, that Alvarado accepted the legislative presidency in exchange for promises that President Moscoso would spend money in his district.

All of the other PRD legislators who supported Alvarado --- Lalo, Manuel De La Hoz, Arcelio Batista and Olivia de Pomares --- are machine-style politicians who would have difficulty being re-elected without access to political patronage plums. Moreover, they are precisely the sorts of people who have lost influence in the PRD as Martín Torrijos has revised the party leadership to his liking.

The polls have Torrijos leading the race to be Panama's next president, and it might work in his favor if his party can distance itself from its unpopular legislative caucus. Because the PRD has party primaries for its legislative nominations (unlike the Arnulfista Party, in which Mireya and her inner circle select the candidates), Torrijos will have another opportunity to set himself apart by backing a new generation of would-be deputies. On the other hand, although he has headed off any serious primary challenge for his 2004 bid for the presidency through an agreement with Panama City's Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro, Torrijos could be hurt if the PRD legislative caucus meltdown turns into an acrimonious primary brawl.

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