Page 108 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

There were many more written reactions to the fraud. Transcribed below are
segments from statements from some of the most important and significant groups in
our society (the emphasis is always our own):
“… it is a public and well-known fact that neither the National Returns

Board nor the Electoral Tribunal have seriously discharged their
inspection duties in order to clarify the irregularities brought to
their attention. The sequence of events also leads to the inference that
many electoral precinct and circuit results were affected by actions

taken or omitted in a suspiciously subjective manner.

… all of this, coupled with the excessively formalistic approach
adopted by the Electoral Tribunal, has cast serious doubts as to the
accuracy of electoral results. The reiterated abstentions by the
presiding justice, one of which was appended to Resolution 235,
issued by the Tribunal on May 20, 1984, indicate that high electoral
body sacrificed for procedural reasons the actual truth as to
election results which the Panamanian people wishes to learn”.

Statement of the National Bar Association, La Prensa, May 30,
1984, page 1A.

“On Sunday, May 6, for the first time in 16 years, the Panamanian people
expressed its will as to those who should rule the country’s destinies.

Without rancor, the people proved to the whole world that it opted for
peace, dialogue, and respect for the law. This was acknowledged by
Panamanian and foreigners alike.

However, the persons charged with receiving that expression of popular

will and who proved unable to offer a process of vote-counting that
would once and for all dispel all questions, have conveyed it to us in a
confused fashion, leaving strong doubts as to the results of these
elections.

Power rest upon the popular will and if the expression of this will is

coerced or repressed, it will sooner or later find ways of manifesting
itself. The longer this repression lasts and the more coercive the means
used, the more violent and destructive these manifestations shall
eventually be.

Statement to the Country by the National Medical Association,

La Prensa, May 2, 1984, page 12B.