2024-05-10 02:36:57
Panamanians voted yesterday to elect a new President in an election marked by the influence of the former president Ricardo Martinelli, convicted of money laundering and whose protégé, José Raúl Mulino, was declared the winner after an irreversible trend with the majority of votes counted.
After nine hours of voting, with a large influx of voters (75%), the polls closed at 4:00 p.m. locales, time at which the counting of votes began in the ballots.
Inheriting the popularity of Martinelli, the 64-year-old right-wing lawyer came forward from the first counts its three immediate rivals with 33%.
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The former social democratic president Martín Torrijos (15%), the former chancellor Rómulo Roux (12%) and the excónsul Ricardo Lombana (24%), from the center-right, sought the anti-Martinelli vote.
Strong character and gray hair, mill relieved Martinelli as candidate of the Realizing Goals party (RM), after being disqualified as a candidate after confirming a sentence against him of almost 11 years.
Among a swarm of journalists, mill voted early and then visited Martinelli at the Nicaraguan embassy where he sought asylum in February to avoid prison.
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“Brother!” and “We are going to win!”, they said when they hugged in a hall of the embassy, according to a video he published Martinelli in the red social X.
With the inhabitants in doubt, the justice system endorsed, just two days before the vote, the candidacy of Mill, which was challenged for not going through primaries or having a vice president.
In addition to electing a leader for five years in single-round elections and by simple majority, 3 million of the 4.4 million Panamanians They were called to elect 71 deputies and local governments.
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CORRUPTION
In a country without leftist parties, the candidates made similar campaign promises: job growth, economic dynamism and anti-corruption reforms.
President Laurentino Cortizo, of the majority Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD, social democrat), was tarnished by the scandalous payment of juicy scholarships to politicians and their families. The official candidate, José Gabriel Carrizo, always appeared very low in the polls.
But Martinelli, also accused of telephone spying and bribery from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, It is popular due to the economic boom that the country experienced during its government (2009-2014), driven by large infrastructure works.
Cortez He leaves behind a fiscal deficit of 7.4%, a public debt of 50 billion and a collapsed social security system.
In the country with one of the largest GDP of Latin America two coexist Panama: that of its capital with skyscrapers, luxurious apartments and advanced roads, and that of communities without drinking water, electricity, health services and even garbage collection.
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2024-05-10 02:36:57