General Election in Panama: 89.4% Intend to Vote

A recent survey by StratMark Consultores revealed that 89.4 percent of the citizens of Panama indicated their intention to vote during the general elections, on May 5. It will be a record in a country which is bracing for its sixth such vote since Panama’s dictatorship ended.

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The voters will choose a new president, 71 lawmakers, 20 seats for the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) and, 81 mayors to lead the Central American country for a five-year term.

As established by article 177 of the Constitution of the Republic of Panama and the electoral code, a simple one-round majority vote is organized, and the winner will be the candidate who obtains the most votes, without an absolute majority required.

According to the newspaper La Estrella de Panama, in 2014 President Juan Carlos Varela won the presidency of the country with 76.78 percent of participation, while Ricardo Martinelli won the election in 2009 with nearly 74 percent turnout. 

According to the survey, 8.7 percent are undecided about the candidate they will vote for, the rate of abstention is below 15 percent, and two percent of people said they would not exercise their right to vote.

In 2019, corruption dominated much of the political debate, along with calls for a new Constitution to restructure the three branches of power.

Recently an organization authorized by the Electoral Tribunal to carry out surveys among the population predicted the victory of Laurentino Cortizo, who is running for the center-left Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the country’s largest party which has held the presidency for 20 of the last 50 years. Romulo Roux, president of the center-right Democratic Change party, is close behind.