US embassy cable - 04PANAMA1764

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PANAMA 001764 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN/BRIGHAM 
 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PM, POL SPECIALIST 
SUBJECT: PANAMA: PRESIDENT-ELECT TORRIJOS PUSHES 
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM - HIS WAY 
 
 
Summary: Extraordinary sessions and hot debate 
--------------------------------------------- - 
1.  (SBU) In a surprise move, President Moscoso ordered 
"extraordinary sessions" of the Legislative Assembly to 
discuss constitutional reform.  The move drew cheers from 
some civil society groups and criticism from those like 
former president and second-place 2004 candidate Guillermo 
Endara who favor convoking a constituent assembly 
(constituyente).  By signing Executive Decree No. 68 on June 
30, 2004 to officially call for extraordinary legislative 
sessions from July 5-20, President Moscosos surrendered 
major ground to Torrijos and the PRD. 
 
 
2.  (SBU) President-Elect Martin Torrijos held a June 18 
press conference to announce that his party, the Democratic 
Revolutionary Party (PRD), would propose a package of 
constitutional reforms to the Legislative Assembly.  Since 
the Moscoso administration and its allies currently control 
the Legislative Assembly, Torrijos had to convince Moscoso 
during a June 21 meeting to convoke the extraordinary 
sessions.  Moscoso had announced earlier that there was no 
time to discuss such reforms and pro-Administration 
legislators had also told Poloffs there seemed to be no 
interest in the GOP or the opposition PRD to discuss them. 
 
 
3.  (SBU) Critics, first among them civil society 
representatives, have taken issue with several of the 
reforms that the PRD has proposed.  The PRD's chief 
political opponent, the Arnulfista Party, has followed suit. 
President Moscoso, also Arnulfista Party President, has only 
"accepted" Torrijos' proposal inasmuch as she agreed to 
order the legislature to review it.  Most recently, 
President Moscoso delivered a short televised message asking 
Panamanians to remain alert to ongoing legislative debate. 
While some of the PRD's proposed reforms have merit, others 
appear to be driven by political expediency.  In any event, 
we share public (and PRD) skepticism that President Moscoso 
is truly committed to pushing through these reforms before 
she leaves office on August 31.  End Summary. 
 
 
The package 
----------- 
4.  (SBU) The 90-page document that PRD Legislator Jerry 
Wilson submitted proposes extensive amendments to Panama's 
constitution.  After offering initially positive feedback on 
Torrijos' announcement, local lawyers, including a former 
Supreme Court Justice, and pro-administration legislators 
quickly labeled some reforms "dangerous" for the democratic 
system.  Though the PRD (Torrijos included) assured that the 
reforms were open to debate, several proposed reforms have 
raised eyebrows and called the PRD's "good faith" into 
question with Panamanian observers. 
 
 
The process 
----------- 
5.  (U) Pursuant to Article 308 of Panama's Constitution, 
the PRD-proposed constitutional reform package will be 
discussed during three rounds of debate by the entire 
legislature (rather than in small committees like other 
bills).  Before official presentation to the entire 
legislature, the legislature's Government Committee heard 
concerns from political party and civil society 
representatives as well as former government officials who 
oppose certain elements of the proposed reform package. 
Amending the bill is authorized during first and second 
debates, but the third round of debate will be limited to a 
yea or nay vote.  If approved, the bill will be published in 
the Official Gazette. 
 
 
6.  (U) If passed by this legislature, after the new 
administration and incoming legislators take office on 
September 1, then-President Torrijos would need to send the 
bill back to the Legislative Assembly within the first five 
working days.  The new legislature would have the 
opportunity for another yea or nay vote after a single round 
of debate.  If approved by both (outgoing and incoming) 
legislatures, the bill must be published in the Official 
Gazette within the next ten working days after executive 
ratification so that it may enter into effect. 
 
 
The fundamentals 
---------------- 
7.  (U) The proposed reform package included: 
   -Reducing the number of Vice Presidents from two to one; 
   -Reducing the number of legislators from 78 to 67 
(current Constitution stipulates one seat for every 30,000 
inhabitants); 
   -Restricting parliamentary immunity (no immunity for 
legislators in civil or labor matters); 
   -Reducing the number of legislators' alternates 
(suplentes) from two to one; 
   -Allowing independent candidates to run for legislative 
seats (electoral law currently mandates that legislative 
candidates must be nominated by political parties); 
   -Increasing professional pre-requisites for legislative 
candidacies; 
   -Establishing a mandatory referendum for Canal expansion; 
   -Reducing the transition period between election and 
inauguration from four to two months; 
   -Eliminating centralized, pre-disbursement control of 
government expenditures (control previo); 
   -Allowing number of Supreme Court Justices to be defined 
by legislation instead of the constitution; 
   -Establishing a mechanism for convoking a constituent 
assembly to enact future constitutional reforms; 
   -Making the Electoral Tribunal's budget independent; 
   -Enforcing the de-centralization of municipalities; 
 
 
The Controversy 
--------------- 
8.  (SBU) Some elements of the PRD proposal have generated 
heated public debate.  Detractors accuse the PRD of ignoring 
civil society concerns that have arisen in various fora like 
the UNDP-convened dialogue "Foro Panama 2020."  Critics say 
Torrijos has proposed amendments that will impair government 
functions and threaten the democratic system.  Details of 
three controversial proposals (none of which have been 
debated yet) follow. 
 
 
9.  (U) ELIMINATING "CONTROL PREVIO":  Article 276 of 
Panama's Constitution grants the Comptroller General (CG) 
the discretion to decide when to implement pre and post- 
disbursement controls on government expenditures.  This 
authority has allowed CGs in the past to exercise what some 
consider excessive power over certain government operations. 
The PRD reform calls for a new law to classify which 
expenditures require pre-disbursement control.  Three former 
CGs from Arnulfista and PRD administrations joined forces 
with current CG Alvin Weeden to uniformly reject this 
proposal.  Professor Ruben Dario Carles, CPA Jose Chen 
Barria, Dr. Gabriel Castro, and CG Weeden visited the 
legislature's Government Committee to express their 
opposition. 
 
 
10.  (SBU) APPOINTING SUPREME COURT JUSTICES:  Article 200 
of Panama's constitution divides the Supreme Court (CSJ) 
into Civil, Criminal, and Administrative Courts, each with 
three Justices.  The PRD proposal would transfer the power 
to restructure the courts to lawmakers.  Opponents claim 
that by structuring the Supreme Court based on laws rather 
than the constitution increases the danger that it would 
become over politicized.  Even some PRD lawyers have 
expressed their opposition.  One said, "if the U.S. has nine 
justices with a 250+ million population, there is no 
justification for a country with mere 2.9 million to have 
more than the current nine justices." (NOTE: President 
Moscoso has appointed five Justices to ten-year terms and 
opponents have heavily criticized four of them for being 
closely affiliated with her.  Rumors already abound that 
Torrijos plans to appoint three new justices (one in each 
court) to gain control of the court. END NOTE.) 
 
 
11.  (SBU) CALLING A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY:  For years, civil 
society has called for direct citizen participation in the 
constitutional reform process.  Many would even prefer that 
Panama's constitution be discarded and a new one drafted 
from scratch.  Government and political party elites tend to 
oppose constituent assemblies, fearing limits to their 
control over the reform process.  Supporters of a 
constituent assembly failed to achieve the issuance of an 
additional ballot during the May 2 election that would have 
consulted voters about constitutional reform. 
 
 
12. (SBU) Torrijos and the PRD are against a constituyente, 
which would hamstring the incoming administration; however, 
to appease critics they decided to include a mechanism for 
calling one in their reform package.  The PRD proposal would 
require 25% of the voting population (about 475,000 people) 
to sign a petition calling for a constituent assembly. 
Civil society groups want to reduce that figure to 5-10%. 
If the mechanism remains part of the reform package, the end 
figure will probably be a compromise around 15-20%. 
 
 
Comment:  A familiar tune 
------------------------- 
13.  (SBU) The legislature didn't reform the constitution 
during regular sessions, which ended June 30, and prospects 
appear just as tough now.  Neither President Moscoso nor the 
27 legislators who lost their re-election bids have a strong 
political incentive to promote the PRD-sponsored bill. 
Arnulfistas might even get more mileage by opposing PRD 
proposals under the pretext of "ensuring adequate civil 
society participation in the process."  On the other hand, 
President-elect Torrijos has current PRD legislators working 
triple-time to build buy-in for reforms in this legislature 
and the next. 
 
 
14.  (SBU) Given the outright PRD control of the next 
legislature, the greatest obstacle to passage will be 
getting the bill through this one.  A senior PRD official 
expressed concern to DCM that Moscoso has no intentions of 
supporting these reforms but instead is using this public 
debate to deflect criticism of her government's questionable 
record on good governance.  Embassy believes that some of 
the PRD's proposed reforms have merit, while others appear 
driven by political expediency.  In any event, we share 
public skepticism that the badly battered Arnulfista Party 
is really committed to pushing through this package of 
reforms, even though President Moscoso could claim some 
credit in finally carrying out her campaign pledge to reform 
the constitution.  End Comment. 
 
 
WATT