Panama began as a democracy for most of the twentieth century. In 1968, coup brought military to power. Panama now has a political system of Republican, Democratic, and Representative government. It consists of three branches including the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The President of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela, and the Vice President, Isabel Saint Malo applies it. Each are elected through universal direct suffrage for five-year periods. The Legislative Branch is part of the Assembly of Deputies. It holds seventy-one Deputies who are also elected through universal direct suffrage for five-year periods. The Judicial Branch is applied by the Supreme Court of Justice, which holds the highest legal power.
The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges. The Cabinet Council selects the judges with the help of the Legislative Branch for a ten-year period. Each judge must be a native Panamanian and must be thirty-five years of age. However, there is no specific limit to judges at any one time. There are also five Superior Courts of Judicial District consisting of nineteen Magistrates and Circuit and Municipal Courts. The seat of the Government is located in the capital of the Republic, the city of Panama. Panama law is based on civil law with aspects of the Roman law. In
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One district is made up of Panama, Darien, and Colon. It has two superior tribunals. The second is made up of Cocle, Herrara, Los Santos, and Veraguas. The third consists of Bocas del Toro and Chiriqui. Both of these districts have only one superior tribunal. Supreme Court judges choose the judges for the tribunals. For each province, there are two circuit courts as well as a municipal court for each of the sixty-five municipal areas in Panama. The public officials of these courts are supervised by the Public Ministry. Any minor cases are heard in local courts with judges that treat the cases similarly to the United States Justice of the