Citizens against “remainders”: the electoral reform of 2021 in Panama. Ciudadanos contra los “residuos”: la reforma electoral de 2021 en Panamá.

Abstract

As usually happens after each election, the Electoral Tribunal convened in 2020 the National Commission for Electoral Reforms to update and “perfect” the Electoral Code, whose new version was voted by the National Assembly in October 2021. However, this seventh electoral reform since the transition to democracy was particularly conflictive. The loss of trust in institutions, the lack of legitimacy of collective bargaining modes and repeated scandals were also obstacles to the smooth development of a reform understood by each actor as a way to maximize their next electoral interests.