Ricardo Martinelli, president of Panama between 2009 and 2014, made his presidential candidacy official this Sunday for the May 2024 elections, while he awaits sentencing on money laundering charges for the irregular purchase of a media publisher and the start of the trial for the Odebrecht case.
Martinelli, 71, was proclaimed the presidential candidate of his new party Realizando Metas (RM) – Realizing Goals – founded in 2021, after winning a primary in which he obtained more than 96% of the votes, according to data from the Panamanian Electoral Tribunal.
“Now that I am officially a candidate, I will fight with all my might to achieve a prosperous future for my country, without selfishness or revenge. I am not going to waste my time persecuting those who hurt me,” said Martinelli after receiving the accreditation that made his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections official.
His speech, however, began by remembering all those political adversaries whose “kilometric goal is that he does not compete in 2024″ through different trials that seek to disqualify him.
“Don’t be blind, they want to kill democracy, they seek to silence the vote of the majority in Panama, they are terrified of the popular will. I am the one who leads all the popular opinion polls, however, from the refrigerated offices (…) a purely political trial is planned and executed,” he said.
Thus, the candidate assured that “for more than 10 years” he has been a victim of the use of the “Judicial Power to end” his political career, “the target of this practice” since he ceased “to be president of the Republic.”
“Once I win the 2024 election, Panamanians will return to the success of the past, of a large and prosperous Panama and not like now, with an economy in the dumps, just because a small political group is the one who wants to take advantage of the wealth of the nation,” he said.
234,700 RM members were called to Sunday’s primaries at 655 tables in 513 voting centers, and had a participation of less than 25% of those called, detailed the Electoral Tribunal, of a process that cost US$1.3 million Dollars.
Martinelli vote in the morning before a great media expectation in Panama City center. The candidate arrived without apparent physical problems, walking to the polling station without any support despite the fact that he avoided appearing in recent weeks for a trial alleging a recent operation. He even made a dance feint during the event. (https://qcostarica.com/panamas-martinelli-running-for-president-while-he-waits-to-see-if-hell-be-convicted-of-money-laundering/)
