Electoral Tribunal strips some dual citizens of their right to vote

Those Panamanians who served in the US Armed Forces are targeted in particular

The Electoral Tribunal had announced --- but not on its website until more than a week later --- that every Panamanian who had acquired another citizenship would be ineligible to vote in the May 2009 elections. Although the Electoral Tribunal doesn't fully explain in on its website, that edict doesn't include those who are dual citizens by circumstances of birth, such as those who were born of foreign citizen parents in Panama or who were born abroad with Panamanian parents or grandparents.

What the Tribunal did make very explicit, both in the La Prensa note and on its website, was the threat of a six month to one year prison term for voting.

Attorney and mayoral candidate Miguel Antonio Bernal says that he'll challenge the constitutionality of this policy in court. Previously, the practice has been that when a Panamanian who has taken citizenship of another country returns here, she or he resumes the full duties and rights of citizenship.

Article 13 of the Panamanian constitution does provide that those who are Panamanians by birth can not lose their citizenship, but the renunciation of citizenship, either explicitly or implicitly by becoming a naturalized citizen of another country "will suspend citizenship."

Article 131 of the constitution provides that "all Panamanians over 18 years of age are citizens of the Republic," but article 133 refers to the exceptions in article 13. Article 135 provides that "suffrage is a right and duty of all citizens."

So, if the constitution provides for suspension of citizenship but there has been an established practice of people reinstating their suspended citizenship by coming back and living as Panamanians, doesn't that leave an ambiguity for the Electoral Tribunal to legitimately clarify?

Not really. Article 134 of the constitution provides that "the law regulates the suspension and regaining of citizenship." Under section 143 (3), the tribunal gets to issue regulations to enforce the law, and under section 143 (10), it can propose legislation for the National Assembly to consider. But the Electoral Tribunal doesn't have the constitutional prerogative to pass or revise laws, and article 134 of the constitution provides that "the law regulates the suspension and regaining of citizenship."

It's about a PRD-dominated Electoral Tribunal rigging the 2009 vote to favor the PRD. Who are the Panamanians who take on other countries' citizenship and then come back here to live? Many of them are Panamanians of West Indian descent who, because they or their parents worked for the old US canal administration or on the old American military bases, were allowed to emigrate to the United States or enlist in the US Armed Forces. Many got their American citizenship through military service, then came back here to retire. Want to find a group of Panamanians with low regard for Norieguistas in general and members of the former Dignity Battalions goon squads in particular? Panamanian veterans of the US military tend to fit that description. The PRD has chosen as its presidential candidate one Balbina Herrera, the San Miguelito Dignity Battalion leader in whose house General Noriega sought refuge in the first hours of the 1989 US invasion, and the openly partisan Electoral Tribunal is moving to disenfranchise a group of voters who would by and large hold this past against their party's candidate.

Because by and large the West Indian vote has been pro-PRD, especially when elections have polarized between that party and the Panameñistas (formerly known as the Arnulfistas). That's because in 1941 Arnulfo Arias stripped all Panamanians of Afro-Caribbean, Asian or Middle Eastern ancestry of their Panamanian citizenship and the memory of that gets passed down in families. But a lot has changed in 67 years and some of the conservative business-oriented third parties have attracted substantial support from the Afro-Antillean community. This move is in part a reflection of slipping PRD support in some of its old ethnic power bases.

Previously, the Electoral Tribunal issued a regulation to strip those Panamanians who had not voted in the past several elections of their right to vote in the next one. More than 90,000 names were stricken off the voter lists by that move, and in the internal PRD elections it turned out that several PRD elected officials were mistakenly disenfranchised in that purge. The PRD has a highly disciplined and rock solid voter base of about one-third of the Panamanian electorate, so would tend to benefit from the exclusion of occasional or infrequent voters who are more likely to vote for opposition candidates.

Several thousand others have had their voter registrations challenged for being in places where they don't actually live. A lot of these were encouraged to register to vote in improper venues by PRD candidates. Theoretically these people have kept their right to vote, just transferring them back to the proper locales. But the deadline for voter registration had passed before many of these improper registrations were impugned, so there is some question as to whether these people will be allowed to vote. Most probably, those who are PRD supporters will be. However, in some of these cases there are criminal proceedings pending and people who are convicted could lose their votes for that reason.

As far as Bernal is concerned, this latest set of subtractions from the poll lists is improper. "We have to challenge this because the constitution doesn't give the Electoral Tribunal the power to change the election laws." But the Electoral Tribunal argues that it's merely acting to enforce article 390 of the Electoral Code, which prohibits voting by those who are ineligible to vote.

Also in this section:
Electoral Tribunal strips some dual citizens of their votes
Panic and confusion accompany adoption of international yellow fever shot rules
Electoral Tribunal legalizes use of public funds for Balbina's campaign
Stolen statues investigation pointed away from first lady's office
Jované for president, but probably not on the ballot
The campaign against breast cancer
Churches try to block sexual and reproductive health law
Panama News Briefs

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