2019 Panamanian general election
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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by province | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All 71 seats in the National Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. |
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]
Background[edit]
Incumbent President Juan Carlos Varela was elected in 2014 with 39% of the vote.[7] Polls showed him to be the second most unpopular president in Latin America by 2018, with a 57% disapproval rating.[8]
Corruption became a major issue during the campaign,[9] being the first election held after the Panama Papers leak, which exposed the extent of the country's involvement in tax evasion.[10] Investigations into mass bribery by the Brazilian company Odebrecht also took place during the preceding presidential term,[11] with the presidential administrations of Martín Torrijos, Ricardo Martinelli, and Juan Carlos Varela all being subject to scrutiny.[12] Martinelli was also investigated for wiretapping political opponents,[13] which resulted in his being disqualified in his campaigns for Assembly deputy and Panama City mayor.[14]
Electoral system[edit]
The President was elected through plurality vote in one round.
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.[15]
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.[15]
Opinion polls[edit]
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[edit]
President[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "REPUBLIC OF PANAMA - LEGISLATIVE ELECTION OF 5 MAY 2014". Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ "IFES Election Guide | Elections: Panama Parliament 2019". www.electionguide.org. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ Panama IFES
- ^ "Decree of the electoral court for the holding of elections" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-09-15. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ a b "Elecciones 2019: ¿quiénes ganaron?, ¿quiénes perdieron?". www.prensa.com (in Spanish). 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ a b "La debacle del Partido Panameñista". www.prensa.com (in Spanish). 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ "Panamá elige a Juan Carlos Varela, el peor enemigo del presidente Martinelli". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). 2014-05-05. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ "Varela tuvo menos 33 de aprobación en enero". Panamá América (in Spanish). 2018-02-10. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ Mat Youkee (May 1, 2019). "Elections 2019: Five Things to Know About Panama's May 5 Vote". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ 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.
- ^ marpichel (2017-06-01). "Caso Odebrecht en Panamá: 36 procesados y 56 millones aprehendidos". CNN (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ "El expresidente panameño Martín Torrijos fue investigado por el caso Odebrecht". France 24. 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Panamá: Tribunal anula candidaturas del expresidente Ricardo Martinelli". France 24. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ a b Electoral system IPU
- ^ "Poll Tracker: Panama's 2019 Presidential Election".
- ^ 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.
- ^ "DIPUTADOS GANADORES 2019" (PDF). Tribunal Electoral. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
- ^ "Plan General de Elecciones (PLAGEL 2022-2024)". Tribunal Electoral. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2024.