(Panama) Conservative candidate José Raul Mulino, favorite in the polls and replacement for ex-president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) convicted of money laundering and taking refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy, largely won the presidential election in Panama on Sunday.
The 64-year-old lawyer obtained more than 34% of the vote, nine points ahead of his main opponent, the center-right candidate, former consul Ricardo Lombana, who admitted defeat.
“I have the pleasure, on behalf of the Electoral Tribunal, to inform you that […] you won the presidency of the Republic” of Panama, declared the president of the electoral tribunal Alfredo Junca during a telephone call to Mr. Mulino broadcast live on television.
Earlier, Mr. Lombana told his supporters: “I recognize the President-designate of the Republic of Panama, Mr. José Raul Mulino” and “I wish him the best.”
PHOTO DANIEL BECERRIL, REUTERS
Panama chooses its new president from eight candidates on Sunday.
Mr. Mulino said he received these results with “responsibility and humility”. “I am no one’s puppet,” he insisted during a speech to his supporters.
Unable to appear, Mr. Martinelli, who has taken refuge since February 7 at the Nicaraguan embassy with his dog Bruno, had designated José Raul Mulino, his running mate for the vice-presidency, as his successor.
Three million Panamanians were called to elect their president, renew the 71 deputies of the unicameral parliament and the regional governments in this one-round election with a simple majority. Participation was high, at over 77%.
The shadow of ex-President Martinelli, once a candidate for a new mandate, but caught by the courts which sentenced him to 11 years in prison for money laundering, hung over this election.
PHOTO MARTIN BERNETTI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Lines of voters formed early in the morning in front of the polling stations.
It comes at a time when Panama is suffering from endemic corruption, has just gone through a serious drought which has reduced maritime traffic in its famous canal, the engine of its economy, and the migration issue is omnipresent with the entry into the country in 2023 of half a million migrants on their way to the United States through the formidable Darién jungle on the Colombian border.
” Besides ”
PHOTO JOHAN ORDONZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Three million Panamanians are called to elect their president, members of Congress and those of local governments.
The 72-year-old billionaire is also being prosecuted for illegal wiretapping and corruption in the mega-scandal of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
Mr. Mulino was Minister of Security under the Martinelli mandate, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice. Between 2015 and 2016, he was placed in pre-trial detention for corruption, before being released for procedural errors.
Moreover, after voting, Mr. Mulino went to the Nicaraguan embassy where he met Mr. Martinelli. The two men greeted each other with a warm hug, and exchanged “my brother”, “we will win”, according to a video published by the campaign team of the Realizando Metas (RM) party, founded by Mr. Martinelli.
“To prefer as president the direct representative of a fugitive convicted of corruption is to speak out in favor of cheating as a way of life and to publicly embrace corruption,” declared the famous Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades, who is personally involved in the campaign.
“Panama must change, there is too much corruption. We are tired,” said Jennifer Navarro, a 50-year-old teacher, at a polling station in the capital.
In addition, “the economic situation is very complex”, estimates economist Felipe Chapman. The balance sheet of the outgoing social democratic president Laurent Cortizo is undermined by a deficit of 7.2% and a public debt of 50 billion dollars.
PHOTO DANIEL BECERRIL, REUTERS
Panamanians, whose main concerns are corruption, the cost of living, access to drinking water or social protection, are called to the polling stations until 4 p.m.
The future president and his government will have to face weak economic forecasts with growth falling from 7.3% in 2023 to 2.5% in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Thousands of jobs were lost with the closure of Central America’s largest open-cast copper mine amid environmental protests and controversy over the concession contract.
And the Panama Canal, through which around 6% of world maritime trade passes, has had to limit its traffic due to a drought which has emptied the freshwater supply lakes of the locks and calls into question its sustainability.
And in a country with one of the highest GDP per capita in Latin America, Panama “remains one of the most unequal countries in the world,” according to a World Bank report.