Friday
Friday 13th October 2023.
October 12, 2023
The Electoral Tribunal (TE) expressed this Thursday, October 12, its disagreement with the reform that the Electoral Code underwent in the National Assembly .
“The Electoral Court reiterates its position of rejecting the approval in the third debate of the bill that modifies the Electoral Code by the legislative body, a few months before the general election of May 5, 2024,” the entity highlighted in a statement. .
According to the entity, although the National Assembly is the entity established to approve laws in the country, the “electoral organizations of the world agree that it is not advisable to change the rules of an electoral tournament since this action affects the integrity of the process”.
He recalled that Panama is the only country in the world whose Electoral Court has convened representatives of political parties and civil society in the National Electoral Reform Commission (CNRE) since the 1990s, to analyze and discuss everything for a year. regarding the electoral process. He then presents it to the National Assembly as “a consensus proposal to improve the electoral law.”
“The Plenary Session of the Electoral Court trusts in the wisdom of the Executive Body, which is ultimately responsible for sanctioning this law,” he noted.
On Wednesday, October 11, the ruling party of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) managed to pass, without major inconvenience, the three debates of bill 1092 that modifies the Electoral Code , regarding nominations for waste.
This proposal received the vote of the PRD deputies and their allies from the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement and dissidents from Cambio Democrático.
The operating systems of the Public Ministry (MP) and the Judicial Branch (OJ) were subject to a cyber attack last Tuesday, but without major effects.
In the case of the OJ, it was reported that an alert was received of an attempted attack against the platform of the Accusatory Criminal System (SPA), in which the guarantee hearings, trials, enforcement of sentences and the control carried out in their rooms.
Sources from the two institutions explained that the incident did not have serious effects on the system and that it was resolved with the security measures adopted by the Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) for these situations.
In the case of the MP, it was reported that the operating platform was affected and that they are in the process of restarting the system, which is currently slow, but that there were no serious damages to the system.
The Other Path Movement (Moca) reported this Thursday that, without underestimating the regional importance of the organization, it has decided not to nominate deputies to the Central American Parliament (Parlacen).
According to the political party, whose president is Ricardo Lombana, they made that decision to no longer support, among other things, the swearing in of Panamanians confessed to crimes in the United States or in any other jurisdiction and criminally investigated in Panama.
“Regardless of the fact that the positive public policies approved within it are not binding, upon arriving in Panama they are not implemented through a discussion process in the National Assembly, so we Panamanians do not benefit from them,” Moca indicated in a statement.
In fact, they recalled that in the case of Panama, there are no known public policies approved in Parlacen to be issued and converted into bills through legislative initiatives, which is why there are no tangible results or benefits, from the social and economic point of view. economic.
“Its direction and objective have been distorted over time. “Its role has revolved more, from the Panamanian point of view, around promoting impunity for corrupt politicians, including confessed and convicted criminals ,” the group stated about Parlacen.
Six days after the Electoral Tribunal (TE) admitted her candidacy as a candidate for vice president on the list of the Realizing Goals (RM) and Alianza parties Marta Linares de Martinelli resigned.
Both parties protested at the TE’s main headquarters, demanding that this nomination be given the green light, after it was rejected through the entity’s technological platform.
The former first lady informed the TE’s Electoral Organization Directorate on Tuesday, October 10, of her decision to resign. She did it two days after her nomination became firm in her party.
Who will replace Marta Linares de Martinelli? Yesterday, Wednesday, several names were heard. Among them, that of the PRD representative Zulay Rodríguez, with whom RM agreed to an alliance to nominate her for the mayor of San Miguelito. Also mentioned are former security minister José Raúl Mulino, influencer Mayer Mizrachi and David Virzi Martinelli, Martinelli’s nephew and director of RM.
But there are those who point out that it is all part of a strategy. One of the theories is that if the judiciary ratifies Martinelli’s conviction for the New Business case, his wife could be nominated as a presidential candidate. In a directory of his party, Martinelli could get off and in his place nominate his wife. She could have some of the figures mentioned above as running mate.
The water crisis that affects the operations of the Panama Canal is generating a reduction in the number of daily transits, as well as a lower draft of the ships that can transit, which is why the Panama Maritime Chamber, in a statement, calls for strengthening the rest of the actors in the sector to provide a more efficient service to the maritime and logistics chain and seek alternatives for the service.
“It is imperative that the actors be strengthened who, in the face of the reduction in the number of transits and the smaller drafts along the canal, can achieve the connectivity that is required, while solutions to the short-term water shortage are specified. and medium term.”
The maritime industry union called on the Government to convene all members of the sector to make viable strategies that strengthen the Panama Dry Canal.
“An active commitment from government institutions is required to facilitate the procedures that currently limit the quality of the services they provide to ships waiting to transit and container movements between the Panamanian Pacific and Atlantic port areas,” said the Chamber. Maritime.
The union indicates that it is urgent that a dialogue be established to agree on measures and alternatives that efficiently manage to maintain the connectivity of the logistics and supply chain.
Dialogue must be held to find “efficient alternatives to maintain the unparalleled connectivity that Panama offers, mainly because the restrictions announced by the Panama Canal will remain in place for the next 10 months as indicated by the ACP.”
They maintain that an alliance between the Government, the ACP and the Chamber can generate actions that ensure the sustainability of the sector, including measures that allow solving the problem of water scarcity.
The general director of Revenue, Publio De Gracia, told La Prensa that he will recommend the use of electronic invoicing as the “only method” starting in January 2024.
In statements given within the framework of an event organized by this newspaper, De Gracia detailed that he will recommend to the Ministry of Economy and Finance that as of January 2, 2024, electronic invoicing is the only billing method, but “obviously with some exceptions that will determine the regulations.”
He also revealed that the free billing system provided by the DGI for micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs will be expanded to 500 monthly invoices, while recalling that this free method can be used or one of the 20 companies approved by the DGI that offer the service. electronic invoicing as paid intermediaries in this process.
On the other hand, the official indicated that the expiration dates of the fiscal commitments set for October will be extended until the last day of December, which could resemble the laxity of the income record both for this year and for next, something that already The government did to adjust the accounts from last year, when it extended the collections until January to register them in 2022.
The Tocumen International Airport registered the movement of 1.4 million passengers in September of this year, which represented an increase of 162,042 more travelers, compared to the same month in 2022.
According to data from the airport administration, the markets with the greatest regional movement in September were South America with 45%, North America 27%, the Caribbean 12% and Central America 11%. Regarding the European markets, it is stated that they contributed 5% of the movement.
The manager of Tocumen SA, Raffoul Arab , highlighted that ending a third quarter in a robust manner with respect to the movement of people, as a prelude to the high season, confirms the projections of registering more than 17 million passengers at the end of 2023.
“In the coming months we will face important challenges from an operational point of view, to address demand effectively and guarantee an exceptional travel experience for those who transit through the gateway to the Americas,” Arab highlighted.
Likewise, it is highlighted that in September Tocumen increased direct routes to 87 destinations , through 16 commercial airlines that operate in the main cities of America and Europe.
Another data reported by the air terminal is that 74% of passenger movement was for connection. In addition, 11,730 aircraft movements were managed.