The focus is on Law 504 of 2025, a norm reformed last year and promoted by Camacho himself. This is the same law that opened the door for Leblanc's re-election. The election of the Ombudsman for the 2026-2031 period will reach the plenary session of the National Assembly shrouded in a strategic dispute: how many candidates should the Government, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Commission present—one, five, or all 35 who applied? Deputy Luis Eduardo Camacho, of the ruling party 'Realizing Goals' (RM), and president of that commission, announced that this Monday they will meet to define the process's fate. Law 507 does not limit re-election. Meanwhile, Article 129 of the Constitution states that the Ombudsman is appointed by the Legislative Branch for a five-year term. If the commission, made up of nine commissioners, decides to present a single candidate or a reduced shortlist, the 71 deputies will be forced to vote only for the names that Camacho and his team decided to select. Conversely, if the full list is submitted, the plenary will choose without a prior filter. The ruling party's line is already drawn. The repealed Law 7 of 1997 stated that the ombudsman could be re-elected only once. Article 130 sets the requirements: to be Panamanian by birth, to be in full enjoyment of civil and political rights, to be at least 35 years old, not to have been convicted of a willful crime with a deprivation of liberty of five years or more, to have moral solvency and recognized prestige, and not to have kinship within the fourth degree of consanguinity and second of affinity with the President of the Republic, members of the Cabinet, Supreme Court magistrates, or deputies. The Magna Carta does not detail who filters or how many candidates reach the plenary. 'I have not seen what capacity the other 30 applicants have.' Meanwhile, in the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD), the possibility of attempting Leblanc's re-election is being considered. This is not surprising considering that Leblanc was appointed to that position by an Assembly controlled by the PRD. The clash of interpretations Camacho's position (filtering candidates) clashes head-on with that of Deputy Ernesto Cedeño (Another Way Movement), a member of the 'We Continue' bloc, who rejects any attempt at pre-selection. 'Don't come to me with that, they are not going to pre-select candidates for the Ombudsman's Office,' Cedeño sentenced during the last period of incidences. He argued that if all 35 applicants meet the legal requirements, all 35 must be submitted to the plenary's vote. The weight of the norms The legal framework governing the election of the Ombudsman has a complex duality. His argument: all those on the list meet the requirements set by the Constitution, so the commission could send to the plenary anything from a single name to the complete list. Of the 35 who submitted documents, one declined and three did not show up for the interview, but according to Camacho, this does not automatically exclude them. He who controls the filter, controls the election However, in the legislative chess game, the math is simple: he who controls how many names reach the plenary, controls the result. On the one hand, the Organic Internal Regime (RORI) of the Assembly establishes in Article 211 that any deputy can propose a candidate and that the election is decided by absolute majority after the presentations. However, the same article states that the election of the Ombudsman is governed by its own special law. 'Well, they decide as a board, but we here in the bloc are autonomous,' warned Deputy Alain Cedeño. But the politician also praised Russo's profile: 'I see Magistrate Russo as a person who already has 50% of the experience to handle that issue.' The 'Realizing Goals' party publicly announced its support for former Supreme Court Justice Ángela Russo. 'The RM party supports the election of Ángela Russo and, therefore, instructs its bloc to vote for her,' published the collective led by former President Ricardo Martinelli on its X account. However, there are some reservations.
