By Elida Moreno
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, who is under investigation for corruption, said on Thursday he intends to run as an independent in the country’s 2024 elections.
Martinelli, who led the Central American country from 2009 to 2014, on social media that he had officially registered his candidacy with the electoral authority.
The alleged former faces investigations into his role involving bribes paid through the Brazilian corporate structure Odebrecht.
Martinelli posted on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) that he sought to be “the candidate of all independent Panamanians. “
He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2004 as a candidate of the Democratic Change Party, in 2009 he won with more than 60% of the vote after forging an alliance with the Panamanian Party.
Martinelli was acquitted in 2019 and 2021 of espionage trials allegedly committed under his direction and insisted he had been the victim of political persecution.
On Thursday he said he had “broken the mirror of hate. “
Although Martinelli also presented his own political component, called Reaching Goals, he said he presented himself as an independent as part of a “political strategy. “
Established political parties have not yet officially announced their own presidential candidates, as independents in Panama begin the electoral procedure earlier.
Of the nearly a dozen independents who have registered to participate so far, the 3 who gather the most signatures from the eligible electorate over the next year will go into the general election.
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