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Weekly Report - 08 February 2018 (WR-18-05)

PANAMA: Varela faces judicial setback

President Juan Carlos Varela has received a major setback. Last week the opposition-controlled 71-member legislative assembly rejected his two picks for the nine-member supreme court (CSJ) to replace magistrates whose 10-year terms were due to expire last month. With civil-society groups having already criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the election process, the vote comes as the judiciary remains under unprecedented scrutiny. This is due to the corruption scandal involving the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, which has implicated Varela as well as other members of the political establishment, together with the newly emerged so-called ‘Blue Apple’ case – a ‘mini-Odebrecht’.

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