Panama Bucks the Latin American Left
FrontPageMag
05-May-2009

On May 3 Latin America's leftward lurch suffered a setback when Ricardo Martinelli, candidate of the center-right Alliance for Change, swept into the Panamanian presidency with a resounding victory. The 57-year-old Martinelli is a U.S.-educated supermarket entrepreneur who used the acumen and skill that made him one of Panama's wealthier citizens to win the presidential election.

Winning over 60 percent of the vote, Martinelli defeated Balbina Herrea, candidate of the governing center-left Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD). Unable to shake concerns about her past association with General Manuel Noriega and the voters' suspicion of her links to Venezuela's populist president Hugo Chávez, Ms. Herrera received approximately 37 percent of the vote.

The Election Campaign

Although the outgoing government of PDR President Martin Torrijos was marked by a reduction in poverty and economic growth, electoral discontent rose as Panama's economy began to contract following the 2008 slowdown in global trade and a slump in the construction boom. The modest success of poverty reduction under the PRD, from 35 percent to about 28 percent of Panama's population, appeared to falter in 2008 as food prices rose swiftly and  income inequality remained a sensitive political issue. Panamanian voters were also troubled by increases in violent crime and a perception that high-level corruption remained endemic within the PRD government. A Martinelli campaign t... >>>

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