Martinelli Takes Another Step to Forming New Political Party - Realiendo Metas (RM)

[Moderator_02]

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Martinelli takes another step to forming new party

Posted 26/09/2020

While still facing almost a dozen corruption investigations former President Ricardo Martinelli is still seeking a return to the political stage, and on Friday, September 25  The Electoral Tribunal (TE) recognized the group Realiendo Metas (RM) as a political party in formation, and gave it the go-ahead  to collect the 39,296 signatures needed to become a party.

To achieve the status of a collective in formation, RM contributed 3,979 signatures,  of which  3,812 of them were valid.

Martinelli and his followers went to the TE yesterday to collect the documentation. Marinelli who had previously run for president on a campaign slogan “In the shoes of the people” promised that, through this platform, he will return "quality of life to the people", employment, health, education and, above all, he added, there will be "a ticket in everyone's pocket." In his last campaign he had mocked previous administrations whose leaders had “arrived with empty pockets and left with them full.”

Martinelli is the founder of Cambio Democrático (CD), but Rómulo Roux took control of that party from him in the internal elections of January 21, 2018.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/martinelli-takes-another-step-to-forming-new-party

[Jim Bondoux]

I sense a lot of excitement surrounding this development. Martinelli needs 40,000 members to confirm the registration of his new political party, and it appears likely he will be successful in short order. The "Tribunal Electoral" is installing atm-like kiosks in transportation hubs and supermarkets to facilitate party registrations. Martinelli founded the CD party in 1998, and ultimately had nearly 500,000 members at the height of his presidential term.

He seems confident of success, having publicly told elected CD party members who wish to join the new "RM" party to maintain their affiliation for now, just to send their party officials. They will be welcome at the right time. He announced (my translation) "RM is a new opposition party that will support the government in all things it does well, and we will criticize it in all the things it does wrong. We are going to return the quality of life to the Panamanian people." He also said (again, my translation): "We have learned a lot from the mistakes of the past; RM is a party that does not seek revenge, does not seek fights and when we come to power I want all the haters I have, which are many, by my side to help me and to criticize me if I do something wrong."

He has many enemies in the political class, but the memory of the prosperous trends during his administration will likely resonate with a voter mass that is stressed from the economic fallout from the anti-coronavirus measures.

Cute logo, that stands for "Attaining Goals" (Realizando Metas) but also the initials of one Ricardo Martinelli.