AS HAS happened every five years since the end of the Noriega dictatorship in 1989, Panamanians have voted to kick out their ruling party. In elections on May 4th, they gave a resounding victory to Juan Carlos Varela, a vice-president turned opposition candidate who is a personal nemesis of President Ricardo Martinelli.
Though opinion polls had predicted a tight race between the three most prominent candidates, none tipped Mr Varela as a winner. His victory will be an unpleasant blow to Mr Martinelli, a former supermarket magnate who has presided over an economic boom but who has feuded with Mr Varela since he abandoned the government in 2011 and then accused it of corruption. Mr Varela, who is also rich (he is the scion of a Panamanian rum dynasty), is likely to continue many of Mr Martinelli’s economic policies, but says he will focus on helping the poor and reducing inequality.
With 80% of the votes counted, Mr Varela won 39% of the vote, seven points ahead of José Domingo Arias, Mr Martinelli’s hand-picked candidate, with 32%. Juan Carlos Navarro of the centre-left Democratic Revolution Party came third with...Continue reading
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