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News > Latin America

Panama Gears Up for General Elections Amid Corruption Crisis

  • Panamanian voters will choose a new president, 71 lawmakers, 20 seats for the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) and, 81 mayors.

    Panamanian voters will choose a new president, 71 lawmakers, 20 seats for the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) and, 81 mayors. | Photo: EFE

Published 2 May 2019
Opinion

The list of high profile cases remain fresh in the minds of Panamanian society and have been the prime focus leading up to this year’s elections.

Panama’s history of corruption is casting a dark shadow over Sunday’s coming general elections in which not only the government and assembly will be elected but also dozens of mayors, councilors, and lawmakers.

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The list of high profile corruption cases remains fresh in the minds of Panamanians and has been the prime focus leading up to this year’s elections.

Among the most notorious are the Panama Papers, the infamous, international offshore banking scandal; the arrest of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) for alleged breach of secrecy rights, rights to privacy, and surveillance without judicial authorization; and embezzlement related to the largescale Odebrecht (Car Wash) scandal which incriminated not only 80 Panamanian officials, but also officials from across Latin America.

Candidates have bent over backward to prove their spotless records and upstanding characters to voters in a bid to take the presidency from current head of state, Juan Carlos Varela.

"Obviously all (the candidates) are basing themselves on attacking the government scandals, the 'Panama Papers' and the noises made by Odebrecht. And at this time, Varela became a workhorse for these candidates,” said political scientist, Jaime Gutierrez, noting that per a recent survey, some 83 percent disapprove of Varela’s administration.

However, it isn’t candidates’ only concern with the nation’s unemployment riding at seven percent (up by 2.9 percent since 2013) and the economy struggling at a rate of just six percent and is expected to fall to 5.4 percent by 2020, according to the World Bank.

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, first comes a simple one-round majority vote, with the winner being the candidate to capture the most votes — no absolute majority is required.

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.

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