Leis, Democratic transition observatory

We all won. Democracy and the country were triumphant. The elections confirmed the results of the most serious polls, and fortunately the electoral process was transparent and rapid. The high level of voter participation was a sign that the Panamanian people still believe in and use the vote as an instrument of change, and thus confide in suffrage as the central act of electoral democracy.

But is it all over? Must we wait for a lustrum --- another five years --- to participate again? Clearly not. Democracy can’t be only electoral and representative, but must deepen in the direction of a more deliberative and participatory democracy.

A recent report by the United Nations Development Program noted the fragility of our democracy, its low quality and shallowness, such that although it is the chosen political system, there exists little confidence in the capacity of the democratic system to better the living conditions of the population. Nearly half of the people interviewed preferred economic development to democracy and 45 percent of them would support an authoritarian government if this would solve the country’s economic problems. Only 43 percent of the people considered themselves democrats.

Joaquín Estefanía calls it “low-intensity democracy” and mentions its causes: “”The principal one is that it’s an electoral democracy (the citizens can vote), but not a citizens’ democracy (a good part of the citizens don’t feel as such). Citizenship ‘is that that confers upon its members the plain right to a community; its beneficiaries are equal in the rights and obligations that it implies’ (T. H. Marshall). Democracy is citizenship.”

It’s important that the new government promises to open channels of participation at the local and national levels, and for the citizenry to push initiatives like pubic hearings, accountability, and participative municipal budget processes, among other things.

During the next four months there will occur a process of transition from our current government to the next one. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the efficacy and efficiency of this process. In addition to the normal objectives of a transfer of power, many civic concerns loom. Many fear that the outgoing government can use this period as a space to introduce measures injurious to community interests, for examples the “ecological” Boquete-Volcan road that would cut through Volcan Baru National Park and which the president has said “will go ahead;” measures that would distort the Social Security Fund’s principles of autonomy and solidarity; or even proposed constitutional changes that would detract from the citizenry’s sense of the need for a new constitution, among other things. We should hope, for the sake of the country, that this doesn’t happen. For this reason the General Assembly of the Foro Panama 2020 approved, on April 27, a communique that states and proposes:

“In the face of the coming elections, the Foro 2020 Assembly, composed of the national government, the legally constituted political parties, the members and signers of Visión Nacional 2020, agree that the Foro Panama 2020 will act as a Democratic Observatory of the transition period between the May 2 elections and the inauguration of the new government on September 1.

“The purpose of this initiative is to follow the change of government administration, which must be carried out by a transparent process that counts on the participation of all sectors of civil and political society coming together to contribute to the consolidation of our democracy.”

I hope that this mission will be assumed by the diverse sectors of the country represented in the Foro (parties, civil society and government), which should be a good example of the capacity for inclusion, and, moreover, would help to avoid difficult situations for the country.

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Democratic transition observatory