President Ricardo Martinelli may finally be faced with an opposition. Last week Vice-President Juan Carlos Varela, whose dismissal as foreign minister ended the alliance between his Partido Panameñista (PP) and Martinelli’s Cambio Democrático (CD) [WR-11-35], said that despite being part of the executive he would play the role of “leader of the opposition”. His challenge to Martinelli suggests that the PP could finally provide the check hitherto missing on the President, who effectively controls the judiciary and whose rupture with the PP underlines an evident belief that he controls the 71-member unicameral legislature.End of preview - This article contains approximately 664 words.
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