The Electoral Court of Panama affirmed Monday that there were no conditions for organizing a popular consultation to decide whether or not to abrogate a contract with a Canadian company for the extraction of copper in a forest area of ​​the north of the country, while massive protests which The country is semi-paralyzed and entered its second week on Monday.

Panama’s highest electoral body, which is working to organize the presidential elections of May 2024, spoke out after President Laurentino Cortizo, in an attempt to quell the protests, announced on Sunday evening that he would ask the Electoral Court to organize the consultation for December 17.

Cortizo’s announcement did not calm demonstrators who continued their protest Monday with roadblocks and were planning a march again in the afternoon, as they have done for more than a week.

The electoral rector stressed that “there is no rule in the Political Constitution and in the electoral code which envisages the type of popular consultation requested”, while stressing that if a law duly approved and sanctioned ordered it, the Electoral tribunal “would be obliged to convene it and organize it.

The Electoral Court also made reference to the fact that the Supreme Court of Justice currently has unconstitutionality cases against the Mining Contracts Law that have been filed and are awaiting resolution. He stressed that if the highest court issues a decision before the date set by Cortizo for the consultation, it would render it useless.

Likewise, the electorate urged the parties involved in the crisis to dialogue and contribute to peaceful and effective solutions.

The protests are led mainly by young people through social networks and by unions in the construction sector, teachers, doctors and indigenous people, among others, who demand the repeal of the contract law. Protest leaders rejected the call for a popular consultation and said they would continue to take to the streets to demand the law be repealed and the mine closed.

Cortizo, who has less than a year to complete his five-year term, sanctioned and quickly signed into law the contract law on Friday, October 20, after it was also quickly approved by Parliament despite popular rejection.

The law gave the right to Minera Panamá, a subsidiary of the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals, to continue the extraction, processing and marketing of copper and other minerals over an area of ​​more than 12,955 hectares for a period of 20 years, extendable to an additional 20 years. .

While the government defends the contract by arguing that it saves thousands of jobs in this mine and that it makes an important contribution to the economy of the country of just over four million inhabitants, those who reject emphasize that the State grants too many concessions to the company and is financially disadvantageous for Panama.