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Volume
15, Number 11 |
Also in this
section: The
Procrustean mayor's office
by Miguel Antonio Bernal The consequences of a true rule of law in Panama --- one that is modern and participatory --- are every day more evident. Not a single day goes by in which you can't enumerate acts coming from the authorities or organs of state that do not carry with them some abuse or omission in the compliance with the constitution or laws. The supremacy of the constitution, due process of law, the presumption of innocence, controls over the activity of state institutions, the independence of the judiciary, the responsibility of public officials with power and jurisdiction over matters, are some of the tools of constitutionalism that those who really hold power don't allow to wash up on our beaches, let alone fall into the hands of the citizenry. Constitutionalists and political scientists of all modern currents concur on the point that to constitutionalize political power is, in synthesis, to give it legal form and structure, regularizing its factual manifestations, and arranging its functions with previously expressed laws in a way that guarantees legal security to the governed. In this we seek power that's neither absolute nor arbitrary, and which totally and permanently depends on the law. Knowing this, we see that the constitution that's in effect in our country doesn't harmonize with what's called the rule of law, and much less a constitutional rule of law. The reforms that have been introduced have not been able to erase its original sin and the latest reforms in 2004 signified a real, anti-democratic, step backwards --- particularly on electoral matters. In effect, the monopolistic and absolute power that was given to the Electoral Tribunal as the result of an agreement between Martín Torrijos and Mireya Moscoso --- the MAMI Pact --- raised to constitutional level the caprice and discretion of the magistrates of that institution. Different actions of the highest electoral authority have shown, since 2004, practices contrary to participatory democracy, to citizens's control, to effective and transparent actions in favor of the citizens regarding such a sensitive matter. Cases like the contract to make cedulas, the citizenship of Haydeé Milanés de Lay, the Cambio Democratico candidacies for the Central American Parliament, and most especially the mayoral race in the capital, lead to the conclusion that the Electoral Tribunal magistrates act like a modern Procrustes. Procrustes, we are told by mythology from our past, was a celebrated Athens bandit who condemned those who fell into his hands, after being robbed, to lie on an iron bed, and if their feet came short of the edge, they were stretched in most cruel fashion to fit. On the other hand, if the feet hung over the edge of the bed, they were cut to fit. In this way, everyone exactly fit on to his bed frame.
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