Panama Elections 2024: José Raúl Mulino leads in the polls by 20 points

Written by María Isabel Sánchez. Panamanians vote this Sunday in a general election shaken by the controversial former president Ricardo Martinelliwhose dolphin is the favorite to win the presidency.

Of eight presidential candidates, José Raúl Mulinoof the Realizing Goals party (RM, founded by Martinelli), leads his three immediate rivals in the polls by about 20 points: the former social democratic president Martin Torrijos and center-right lawyers Rómulo Roux and Ricardo Lombana.

64-year-old right-wing lawyer, with a strong character and gray hair, Mulino He relieved Martinelli after he was disqualified as a candidate after a conviction against him for money laundering was confirmed.

Mulino voted and then visited Martinelli at the Nicaraguan embassy, ​​where he sought asylum in February due to his imminent capture.

“Brother!” and “We are going to win!” They say to each other when they hug in a hall of the embassy, ​​according to a video that Martinelli published on the social network X.

Just two days before the vote, the court endorsed Mulino’s candidacy, which had been challenged for not having gone through primaries or having a vice president on the payroll.

In addition to electing a ruler for the next five years in single-round elections, three million of the 4.4 million Panamanians are called to choose 71 deputies and local governments.

“We are in a country in political, social, economic and environmental crisis,” a 74-year-old retiree, who only gave her surname Mollick, told AFP. She was wearing a t-shirt that said: “If I protest like a lion, I don’t vote like a donkey.”

Fed up with corruption

In a country without leftist parties, the main candidates made similar promises: bulk jobs, economic dynamism and anti-corruption reforms.

“Panama has to change, there is too much corruption. We are tired”, said Jennifer Navarro, a 50-year-old teacher, at a polling station in the southwest of the capital.

“Panama advanced. “Whoever does not accept it is very scoundrel,” Alberto Cedeño, a 41-year-old employee of the Colón free zone, told AFP.

The channel and finances

Although the economy grew 7.3% in 2023this year it will slow down to 2.5% according to the IMFhit by the drought that affects the canal and the closure of a copper mine after massive protests in defense of the environment.

Threatening its competitiveness, the canal reduced ship traffic due to low water levels; while the Canadian mining company, which generated some 40,000 jobs and 5% of the GDPbegan litigation to claim $20 billion in compensation.

Cortizo leaves behind a fiscal deficit of 7.4%, a public debt of 50,000 million and a collapsed social security system.

“The fiscal and economic situation is very complex,” said economist Felipe Chapman, for whom the next president, who would deal with a fragmented parliament, must take adjustment measures and then seek economic growth with social progress.

The two Panama

And in the country with one of the largest GDP per capita of Latin America two Panamas coexist: that of its capital with skyscrapers, luxurious apartments and advanced roads, and that of communities without drinking water, electricity, education, health services and even garbage collection.

“Panama continues to be one of the most unequal countries in the world,” according to a recent World Bank report.

Although it is in their territory, the humanitarian drama of the dangerous Darién jungle, where half a million migrants passed through in 2023, does not seem to move Panamanians or the candidates.

Mulinoformer minister of Martinelli Security, promised to “close the Darién.” His only adversaries will control the situation.

The presidential election is decided by a simple majority and the results are expected about four hours after the polls close, at 4:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. GMT).