A total of 34 citizens presented their documentation to be recognized by the Electoral Court (TE), as candidates for the Presidency of the Republic for the free candidacy for the general elections of 2024.
The period to make these applications ended this Sunday at 5:00 pm after having started on June 1, when the electoral process for the general elections of May 5, 2024 was opened.
Among the people who requested recognition as pre-candidates for this position of popular election by free application are: Francisco Carreira Pitty, Dimitri Flores Posso, Gerardo Barroso, José Luis Galloway Logan, Zuriela Del Carmen Gómez, Eduardo Antonio Quirós, María V. Ford R, Germán De Jesús Torres R., Manuel S. Ábrego, Marcelina Bradley Q., Marta M. Roa De Gracia, José D. Nieto M., Zulay L. Rodríguez L, José A. Silvera S., Roberto N. Ruiz D., Irving O. Centeno S., Arnoldo Candanedo M., Diana M. Rios G., Jaime Mottley, Carlos E. Diaz P., Elías A. Cortes C., Ana M. Reyes R., Katleen Levy, Evelio J. Villarreta R., Alberto Arauz De León, Jaime Andrés Tuñon Ochoa, Maribel Gordon Calderón, Raúl A. García S., Ricardo Ariel Morris, Juscelino J. Jaramillo A., Edgardo A. Alvarado R., Melitón A. Arrocha R., Gabriel A. Despaigne F. and Raúl A. Beliz G.
Former President Ricardo Martinelli had also submitted his request, but withdrew.
Among the last candidates to present their documents on Sunday afternoon were: the former Minister of Commerce and member of the Panameñista Party, Melitón Arrocha and the economist and leader of the party in formation Broad Front for Democracy (FAD), Maribel Gordón.
For now, only seven of the citizens who have expressed their interest in being presidential candidates in this way have already fulfilled all the requirements demanded by the Electoral Code and its respective regulations, for which they have already been officially recognized as pre-candidates by the TEA.
Among these are: Francisco Carreira, Dimitri Flores, Gerardo Barroso, Jose Galloway, Zuriela Gomez, Eduardo Quirós and María V. Ford.
Yesterday also ended the term for the application for the positions of corregimiento representatives, deputies and mayors for free application.
1,035 candidates applied for representatives, no one applied for councilman, 458 candidates applied for deputy recognition, and 168 citizens applied for mayor.
In accordance with the Regulations established by the TE for this type of application, this entity will have a limited period to recognize or not the rest of the applications made.
Once they have been made official, from next Monday, August 15 to noon on Monday, July 31, 2023, it will be the period for the pre-candidates for free application, who have completed the training of their initial instructors, to collect a minimum amount of supporting signatures equivalent to 2% of the valid votes cast in the last election, according to the corresponding position and constituency, with only the three (3) candidates who have obtained the most signatures being able to participate in the general election.
