Lawyer José Raúl Mulino, who represents the Save Panama alliance, won the presidency during the elections held this Sunday, May 5 in the Central American country, this after his party, with right-wing tendencies, promised to take several measures to deal with the migration crisis in its territory.
After counting 98.70% of the votes, Mulino appeared in the lead with 34.32% of the votes, followed by the candidate Ricardo Lombana, from the Other Path Movement (MOCA), who obtained 24.74% of the votes. accounted for.
The lawyer’s victory was recognized by the president of the Electoral Tribunal, Alfredo Juncá, through a video call in which Mulino expressed his gratitude for the results and emphasized his commitment to assuming the leadership of the nation with humility.
Shortly before this virtual meeting, Lombana himself congratulated his opponent, recognizing Mulino’s victory and the defeat of his political movement, although he affirmed that there was merit in being recognized as the largest opposition in the country.
Mulino rose in the polls thanks to a strategy focused on promising the recovery of the economic boom that was experienced during the government of former President Ricardo Martinelli, who requested refuge in the Nicaraguan Embassy to avoid being arrested for several accusations of money laundering.
Martinelli was going to be the Save Panama candidate, but he was disqualified after being involved in said legal scandal and ran the risk of spending 11 years in prison.
Since Mulino was not selected in the primary elections, nor did he have a running mate, an attempt was made to legally stop the candidate’s participation, but a last-minute decision made by the Supreme Court of Panama allowed him to participate in the elections.
Among its main proposals is to close the passage of migrants through the Darién jungle, a dangerous route that serves as a connection between the territories of Panama and Colombia.
“We are going to close the Darién and we are going to repatriate all these people accordingly, respecting human rights,” Mulino said during his political campaign.
The candidate indicated to the local press that the migrants could be easily intercepted because he knows the area well and has experience having expelled the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from the area, this while he worked as Minister of security in the Martinelli administration.
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