Jaime Barrosocurrent Accounts Prosecutor and former member of the Panamanian Partywas elected this Thursday, April 16, by the plenary session of the National Assembly as the new magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal (TE)a position he will assume from January 2027.
Barroso will replace Alfredo Juncawho was also nominated to run for the position. The new magistrate obtained 52 votes in favor.
His election had the support of the groups of Realizing Goals (RM), Democratic Change (CD), the Panameñista Party, the Popular Party and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), as well as deputies from the independent Vamos group, among them Jorge Bloise, Manuel Samaniego and Neftali Zamora.
Juncá, for its part, reached 18 votes, mainly coming from the Vamos and Seguimos benches.
Within the Legislature, the figure of Chirican Barroso had been strongly considered for the position even before the process was formally opened. And it was not a secret within the corridors of the Justo Arosemena Palace: on June 30, 2026, Jorge Herreradeputy of the Panameñista Party – a group to which Barroso belonged – will leave the presidency of the National Assembly, amid uncertainty about a possible re-election on July 1.
In that context, the speed with which the process was activated—to the point of choosing a new magistrate eight months before Juncá’s term expired—was not coincidental. With the call and subsequent election, Herrera ensured that Barroso was appointed before his departure of the leadership of the Legislativethus guaranteeing a figure related to Panamanianism within the referee body of the 2029 general elections.
Deputies from the independent Vamos group had already announced that the election responded to a negotiation between the political parties.
According to what was proposed, an agreement would have been reached in which the ruling party Realizing Goals (RM) and its allies would have the power to appoint the Ombudsman, while the Panameñista Party would retain the position of magistrate of the Electoral Court.
The outcome confirmed that scenario: Ángela Russo was elected as Ombudsman.
Barroso was mayor of Arraiján (1999) and general secretary of the Mayor’s Office of Panama during the Bosco Vallarino administration (2010). Before completing his term, former President Juan Carlos Varela appointed him – in June 2019 – as a substitute magistrate of the Court of Accounts for President Juan Carlos Varela.
During his career he also held several positions: he was advisor and director of Legal Advisory of the Ministry of Housing and Territorial Planning and ad honoren advisor of the General Electoral Prosecutor’s Office.
Substitute Magistrate
The plenary session of the National Assembly also elected Gilberto Estrada as a substitute magistrate this Thursday. Estrada, current director of Identification of the TE, received 66 votes.
Javier Ordinola, who was nominated by Ernesto Cedeño, deputy of Seguimos, received only 4 votes.
Earlier
At around 11:40 am, when the session began, it was learned that the Assembly included in this Thursday’s agenda the process of electing the new magistrate after the Credentials Commission concluded on Wednesday, April 15, the process of interviewing the candidates, which was marked by discursive coincidences around institutional modernization and the need to strengthen human capital.
Twenty-seven candidates applied for the position of chief magistrate, but two declined and one did not meet the requirements. In total, 24 candidates were referred to the plenary session.
In the session, the first point was the election process. Jorge Herrera, president of the legislature, opened the application period and the bets began.
He was the vice president of the Assembly, Eliécer Castrellónof the Popular Party, who was in charge of bringing to the plenary session the nomination of lawyer Barroso, former magistrate of the Court of Accounts.
Juncá was nominated by the deputy of the Seguimos bench, Grace Hernández.
