Since the 1968 coup, opponents of various governments have accused them of violating the spirit and, at times, the letter of the constitution and of invoking the state of emergency provisions for purely political purposes.
The creation of public confidence in the rule of law established by the constitution posed one of the major challenges to the government in the late 1980s.
Article 136, along with other provisions of the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, such as that giving the United States the right to add additional territory to the Canal Zone whenever it believed this was necessary for defensive purposes, rankled Panamanian nationalists for more than three decades.
These amendments abolished capital punishment; stipulated that the President was elected by direct vote; and specified that the terms of deputies in the lower legislative chamber were four years.
In 1946, President de la Guardia promulgated a new constitution, which was basically a return to the 1904 document without the offensive Article 136.
On October 11, 1978, this and other temporary provisions of the 1972 constitution expired, and a series of amendments, ratified by the Torrijos-controlled National Assembly of Municipal Representatives, became law.
[2] Power emanates from the people and is exercised by the three branches of government, each of which is "limited and separate", but all of which, in theory, work together in "harmonious collaboration."