2019 Panamanian general election

2019 Panamanian general election

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Presidential election

Candidate Laurentino Cortizo Rómulo Roux Party PRD CD Alliance Joining Forces Change to Wake Up Running mate Jose Gabriel Carrizo Luis Casis Popular vote 655,302 609,003 Percentage 33.35% 31.00%   Candidate Ricardo Lombana José Blandón Party Independent Panameñista Alliance Panama We Can Running mate Guillermo Márquez Nilda Quijano Peña Popular vote 368,962 212,931 Percentage 18.78% 10.84%

Results by province

President before election Juan Carlos Varela Panameñista Elected President Laurentino Cortizo PRD

Legislative election

All 71 seats in the National Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader % Seats +/– PRD Benicio Robinson 29.99 35 +9 CD Rómulo Roux 22.45 18 −6 Panameñista José Luis Varela 17.30 8 −8 MOLIRENA Francisco Alemán 5.11 5 +3 Independents – 17.88 5 +4 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by circuit [1] [2]

General elections were held in Panama on 5 May 2019. ^[3] Due to constitutional term limits, incumbent President Juan Carlos Varela was ineligible for a second consecutive term. ^[4] Businessman and politician Laurentino Cortizo of the centre-left Democratic Revolutionary Party won the election with around 33% of the vote, narrowly defeating Rómulo Roux of the centre-right Democratic Change, who won 31% of the vote. The PRD also won a majority in the National Assembly. ^[5] The ruling Panameñista Party of President Juan Carlos Varela suffered its worst result in history. ^[6] Its candidate, Panama City mayor José Isabel Blandón, received only 11% of the vote and came in fourth behind independent candidate Ricardo Lombana. ^[5] The party also lost half its seats in the National Assembly. ^[6]

Electoral system

Of the 71 members of the National Assembly, 26 were elected in single-member constituencies and 45 by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. Each district with more than 40,000 inhabitants formed a constituency. Constituencies elected one MP for every 30,000 residents and an additional representative for every fraction over 10,000. ^[7]

In single-member constituencies, MPs were elected using the first-past-the-post system. In multi-member constituencies MPs were elected using party list proportional representation according to a double quotient; the first allocation of seats used a simple quotient, further seats were allotted using the quotient divided by two, with any remaining seats are awarded to the parties with the greatest remainder. ^[7]

The President was elected through plurality vote in one round.

Background

Incumbent President Juan Carlos Varela was elected in 2014 with 39% of the vote. ^[8] Polls showed him to be the second most unpopular president in Latin America by 2018, with a 57% disapproval rating. ^[9]

Corruption became a major issue during the campaign, ^[10] being the first election held after the Panama Papers leak, which exposed the extent of the country's involvement in tax evasion. ^[11] Investigations into mass bribery by the Brazilian company Odebrecht also took place during the preceding presidential term, ^[12] with the presidential administrations of Martín Torrijos, Ricardo Martinelli, and Juan Carlos Varela all being subject to scrutiny. ^[13] Martinelli was also investigated for wiretapping political opponents, ^[14] which resulted in his being disqualified in his campaigns for Assembly deputy and Panama City mayor. ^[15]

Opinion polls

Pollster	Date	Cortizo (PRD)	Roux (CD)	Lombana (IND)
Gallup Panama [16]	17–21 March 2019	38%	21%	4%
GAD3	29–30 April 2019	36%	26%	20%
Doxa Panamá	23–28 April 2019	30%	32%	15%
Stratmark	22–28 April 2019	44%	27%	10%

Results

President

Candidate		Party or alliance			Votes	%
	Laurentino Cortizo	Joining Forces		Democratic Revolutionary Party	609,638	31.03
				Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement	45,664	2.32
			Total		655,302	33.35
	Rómulo Roux	Change to Wake Up		Democratic Change	564,297	28.72
				Alliance Party	44,706	2.28
			Total		609,003	31.00
	Ricardo Lombana	Independent			368,962	18.78
	José Blandón	Panama We Can		Panameñista Party	174,113	8.86
				People's Party	38,818	1.98
			Total		212,931	10.84
	Ana Matilde Gómez	Independent			93,631	4.77
	Saúl Méndez	Broad Front for Democracy			13,540	0.69
	Marco Ameglio	Independent			11,408	0.58
Total					1,964,777	100.00
Valid votes					1,964,777	97.58
Invalid/blank votes					48,656	2.42
Total votes					2,013,433	100.00
Registered voters/turnout					2,757,823	73.01
Source: Election Tribunal

National Assembly

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Democratic Revolutionary Party	542,105	29.99	35	+9
	Democratic Change	405,798	22.45	18	–6
	Panameñista Party	312,635	17.30	8	–8
	Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement	92,340	5.11	5	+3
	People's Party	65,028	3.60	0	–1
	Alliance Party	43,670	2.42	0	–1
	Broad Front for Democracy	22,711	1.26	0	0
	Independents	323,153	17.88	5	+4
Total		1,807,440	100.00	71	0
Valid votes		1,807,440	92.68
Invalid/blank votes		142,663	7.32
Total votes		1,950,103	100.00
Source: Tribunal Electoral

Elected members

The following members were elected:

Circuit 1-1

• Benicio Robinson (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Abel Beker (Democratic Revolutionary Party)

Circuit 2-1

• Néstor Guardia (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Daniel Ramos (Democratic Revolutionary Party)

Circuit 2-2

• Melchor Herrera (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 2-3

• Luis Ernesto Carles (Panameñista Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 2-4

• Jorge Herrera (Panameñista Party) ^{[lower-alpha 1] [17] [18]}

Circuit 3-1

• Jairo Salazar (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Mariano López (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Leopoldo Benedetti (Democratic Change)
• Pedro Torres (Panameñista Party)

Circuit 3-2

• Nelson Jackson (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 4-1

• Fernando Arce (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Miguel Fanovich (MOLIRENA)
• Hugo Méndez (Panameñista Party)

Circuit 4-2

• Everardo Concepción (Panameñista Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 4-3

• Juan Esquivel (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Rony Araúz (Democratic Change)

Circuit 4-4

• Gonzalo González (Democratic Revolutionary Party)

Circuit 4-5

• Manolo Ruiz (MOLIRENA) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 4-6

• Ana Giselle Rosas (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 5-1

• Arnulfo Díaz (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 5-2

• Jaime Vargas (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 6-1

• Alejandro Castillero (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 6-2

• Julio Mendoza (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 6-3

• Marcos Castillero (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 7-1

• Eric Broce (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 7-2

• Olivares Frías (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 8-1

• Kayra Harding (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Marylín Vallarino (Democratic Change)
• Yesenia Rodríguez (Panameñista Party)

Circuit 8-2

• Yanibel Ábrego (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 8-3

• José Herrera (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 8-4

• Roberto Ábrego (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Roberto Ayala (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Lilia Batista (Democratic Change)

Circuit 8-5

• Hernán Delgado (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 8-6

• Raúl Pineda (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Leandro Ávila (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Zulay Rodríguez (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Pancho Alemán (MOLIRENA)
• Dalia Bernal (Democratic Change)
• Itzi Atencio (Panameñista Party)
• Juan Diego Vásquez (Independent)

Circuit 8-7

• Crispiano Adames (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Héctor Brands (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Corina Cano (MOLIRENA)
• Sergio "Chello" Gálvez (Democratic Change)
• Gabriel Silva (Independent)

Circuit 8-8

• Javier Sucre (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Victor Castillo (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Mayín Correa (Democratic Change)
• Edison Broce (Independent)
• Raúl Fernández (Independent)

Circuit 8-9

• Alina González (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Tito Rodríguez (MOLIRENA)
• Genésis Arjona (Democratic Change)

Circuit 8-10

• Edwin Zúñiga (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}
• Alaín Cedeño (Democratic Change)
• Cenobia Vargas (Democratic Revolutionary Party)
• Elías Vigil (Panameñista Party)

Circuit 9-1

• Luis Rafael Cruz (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}
• Fátima Agrazal (Democratic Change)

Circuit 9-2

• Ariel Alba (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 9-3

• Eugenio Bernal (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 9-4

• Ricardo Torres (Democratic Revoltuonary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 10-1

• Petita Ayarza (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 10-2

• Arquesio Arias (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 12-1

• Leopoldo Archibold (Democratic Change) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 12-2

• Adan Bejerano (Independent) ^{[17] [18]}

Circuit 12-3

• Ricardo Santo (Democratic Revolutionary Party) ^{[17] [18]}

Notes

1. Herrera was elected, but his term was served by his alternate. ^[19]

References

1. "REPUBLIC OF PANAMA - LEGISLATIVE ELECTION OF 5 MAY 2014" . Retrieved 4 May 2021.
2. "IFES Election Guide | Elections: Panama Parliament 2019". www.electionguide.org. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
3. Panama IFES
4. "Decree of the electoral court for the holding of elections" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-09-15. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
5. "Elecciones 2019: ¿quiénes ganaron?, ¿quiénes perdieron?". www.prensa.com (in Spanish). 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
6. "La debacle del Partido Panameñista". www.prensa.com (in Spanish). 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
7. Electoral system IPU
8. "Panamá elige a Juan Carlos Varela, el peor enemigo del presidente Martinelli". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). 2014-05-05. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
9. "Varela tuvo menos 33 de aprobación en enero". Panamá América (in Spanish). 2018-02-10. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
10. Mat Youkee (May 1, 2019). "Elections 2019: Five Things to Know About Panama's May 5 Vote". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
11. Journalists, The International Consortium of Investigative. "Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption - The Panama Papers". OCCRP. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
12. marpichel (2017-06-01). "Caso Odebrecht en Panamá: 36 procesados y 56 millones aprehendidos". CNN (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-05-23.
13. "El expresidente panameño Martín Torrijos fue investigado por el caso Odebrecht". France 24. 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
14. Noticias, Redacción de TVN (2015-10-29). "Tras 20 días de acusación contra Martinelli por "pinchazos" Mejía aún no actúa". Tvn Panamá (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-05-23.
15. "Panamá: Tribunal anula candidaturas del expresidente Ricardo Martinelli". France 24. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
16. "Poll Tracker: Panama's 2019 Presidential Election".
17. "DIPUTADOS GANADORES 2019" (PDF). Tribunal Electoral. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
18. "Plan General de Elecciones (PLAGEL 2022-2024)". Tribunal Electoral. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
19. Espinoza, Tereza (2024-05-06). "Medio cociente y residuo los salvan: Pineda, 'Bolota' Salazar, Robinson y Gálvez se mantienen en la Asamblea". Tvn Panamá (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-05-23.