Panama blocks ex-president Martinelli from election
Al Jazeera
Tribunal disqualifies candidacy due to 10-year prison sentence for money laundering handed down last year.
Panama’s electoral tribunal has annulled the candidacy of former President Ricardo Martinelli in the presidential election set for May.
The decision, announced late on Monday by the body’s president Alfredo Junca, appears to end Martinelli’s hopes of re-election. It comes a month after the former leader lost a bid to avoid a prison sentence for corruption and took asylum in the Nicaraguan embassy.
Martinelli served as president from 2009 to 2014. Last year he was found guilty of using stolen public money to buy a stake in a publishing house. The 71-year-old supermarket tycoon was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and given a $19m fine.
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against his sentence. Martinelli blasted that ruling as an “illegal last-minute move” to remove him from the presidential race.
The finalisation of his conviction allowed the Electoral Tribunal to annul his candidacy. Panama’s constitution bars anyone sentenced to five years or more for a crime from holding elected office.
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