Panama’s ex-president Ricardo Martinelli's political ambitions remain undimmed while he spends Christmas behind bars in El Renacer prison awaiting trial after a failed attempt to spend the holiday in a private hospital.

He is  facing trial for the illegal wiretapping of at least 150 people while in office with  a  dozen corruption investigations waiting in the wings and  he recently boasted he could buy off   half a dozen Supreme Court judges for less than victims had called for during plea bargaining,

When constitutionalists warned that he could not be a vice president running mate of  CD presidential candidate Rómulo Roux for the May 5, 2019,  elections, Martinelli lowered his sights and announced that he was declining that role and would concentrate on his candidacies. for the Mayor's Office of Panama and for deputy for the circuit 8-8.

But, with less than five months to the elections, La Prensa reports a fresh controversy over whether or not he can run for the positions, taking into account Article 153 of the Constitution ruling that one of the requirements to be a deputy is to be a resident of the corresponding electoral circuit. at least one year before the application. Article 291 of the Electoral Code also contemplates that same requirement to be mayor.

Martinelli arrived in Panama on June 11, extradited from the United States to face the wiretapping case.

In August, the presiding magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal, Heriberto Araúz, told La Prensa that the electoral residence is not about the physical location where the person lived last year, but the one registered in the last voter registry.

An electoral decree establishes a difference between the concept of residence of the elector and that of the candidate.

For the elector, the norm states that he must stay at least four nights of the week in the area where he wants to vote. On the other hand, for a candidate, it is broader: it is valid if he was educated in the area or if he has business in it, for example.

Expert in electoral law Javier Odinola maintains that Martinelli would have no impediment to being a candidate.. However, he says that there is a concept of residence for the elector and another for the candidate, which are completely distant, "would be unconstitutional", because, in his opinion, there should not be privileges or privileges. The issue, he adds, is that the decree has not been sued.

Others believe that if that rule is the subject of a lawsuit, What is meant by residence? If you live personally here or have business here. That is a for the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice, but for that, it is necessary to present action of unconstitutionality. But the Electoral Tribunal has the first option. If no one challenges, the application remains firm.