Raúl Mulino leads the presidential elections in Panama

Panama. The candidate José Raúl Mulino, heir to former president Ricardo Martinelli, would be leading the presidential elections in Panama according to preliminary data, the RT network reported on its Telegram channel.

Panama’s general elections concluded this Sunday, according to the Electoral Tribunal (TE), with the replacement of former president Ricardo Martinelli, José Raúl Mulino, as the favorite to win the presidency.

After nine hours of voting, with a large influx of voters, the polls closed at 4:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. GMT), but some centers where there are voters may remain open. “Today the Panamanians have spoken” through “the vote,” said the president of the TE, Alfredo Juncá.

Panamanians went to the polls on Sunday to choose the new president for the next five years with the spotlight focused on former president Ricardo Martinelli, excluded from the fight due to a conviction against him, and on his leader, the leading candidate José Raúl Mulino .

As the official closing of the polls approached, the influx of voters was growing in many centers of the country in an election that generally took place relatively calmly and with only reports of some minor incidents between voters from opposing parties.

Mulino led the preferences of that part of the population that still supports Martinelli and sees in his replacement a hope that splendor will return to the country in the face of its economic slowdown. While his three most direct rivals—former president Martín Torrijos and two candidates who participated in the last 2019 elections, Ricardo Lombana, from the Otro Camino Movement, and Rómulo Roux, from Cambio Democratico—sought to avoid the return of “Martinellism” to power with a constant reminder of corruption scandals.

“We think Mulino can play a good role,” said Yanela Ríos, a 58-year-old housewife who voted early in Boca la Caja, a slum neighborhood of concrete and tin-roofed houses that is embedded in the middle of luxurious residential skyscrapers. in Panama City. “If, in reality, he has a different mentality in helping the people and the one who put him in that position (Martinelli), he will be good for the country.”

For her part, Judith Wald, 48, who claims she does not have a permanent job, said that in the past she voted for Martinelli, but that was not the case this time. “We see Lombana as another option, I think Panama needs a change, it is always the same.”

With the sun breaking into the day, the first voters began to arrive at the voting centers after 7:00 in the morning. The booths at the more than 7,574 tables throughout the country will be open until 4:00 p.m. (2100 GMT).

At an entrance to the neighborhood, an elderly woman placed a flag with the letters RM (Realizing Goals) outside her house, where she hung her washed clothes and a banner that said “Help the crazy,” in reference to Martinelli.

The former president, sentenced for money laundering to more than 10 years in prison, is politically disqualified and has taken refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy since February in the Nicaraguan embassy after receiving political asylum, intensely supported the campaign of his co-religionist and trusted man.

Mulino, who voted after 9:00 in the morning after being received at the ATLAPA convention center shouting “you feel, you feel, Mulino president,” replaced Martinelli on the payroll of the Realizing Goals and Alliance parties. He was on the verge of being left out of the electoral race due to a lawsuit that sought to declare his candidacy unconstitutional and it was not until Friday morning that the Supreme Court ruled to keep Mulino in the presidential race.

After voting, the candidate visited Martinelli at the embassy. “Brother,” he told him, before embracing him in a hug at the diplomatic headquarters. The government of Panama has previously protested to the government of Nicaragua for allowing the former president to carry out political activities.

“Everyone said if (Martinelli) runs, he wins,” Ragnhild Melzi, vice president of Public Programs and Corporate Relations at Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Mulino is the successor and I think he benefits from what Martinelli had, from the positive that a very large part of the Panamanian people saw in him. “The dynamism that there was.”

The winning candidate will have to deal with the great challenges of migration through the Darién Gap, where half a million people crossed last year, and the water crisis that restricted boat transits in the country for the first time in history. the Panama canal. This, together with the closure of a copper mine after mass protests last year, will contract the economy, according to experts.

“We have problems with the economy, work and health that have led us to a moment of crisis,” claimed Carmen González, a 56-year-old housewife who came to vote with her mother Manuela, 81. “Let’s hope that all this is for the good. I hope that the next president does things well and fulfills each of the promises.” His support went to Lombana, one of the three who is behind Mulino and the first of the candidates who He also went to vote on Sunday in ATLAPA.

According to analysts, this election in Panama is one of the most complex in its modern history.

“The vote is marked by greater political fragmentation and social unrest under outgoing president Laurentino Cortizo,” said Arantza Alonso, senior analyst for the Americas at the strategic and risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft based in Bath, England. In an analysis sent He told AP that a survey from early April showed that almost a quarter (23%) of citizens were undecided or little inclined towards any of the candidates, which indicates “the low levels of satisfaction of Panamanians with the candidates offered.” ”.

Mulino has offered to usher in a prosperous economy like the one seen during Martinelli’s government (2009-2014) and stop migration through the Darien Gap, the dangerous jungles that link Colombia and Panama and that were crossed through million migrants last year.

While Torrijos, Lombana and Roux have offered to change the country, with reforms to the Constitution to dismantle, according to them, the structures that allow corruption and impunity. The three aimed their darts in the final stretch of the campaign against Mulino.

“We are calm, happy to be here, with a lot of hope; Today Panama, the youth, wins,” said Lombana upon arriving to vote.

The 50-year-old lawyer, who received strong support from the young vote in the last elections, has been incisive that he will fight against corruption and repeated a phrase heard from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele about how “money is enough when no one steals it.” . He also promises to reform the Constitution to reduce the National Assembly, the country’s most contested body, and dismantle the structures that enable corruption and impunity.