Presidential candidate José Raul Mulino of the Achieving Goals party celebrates his victory on general election day in Panama City on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
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Presidential candidate José Raul Mulino of the Achieving Goals party celebrates his victory on general election day in Panama City on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
PANAMA CITY — José Raúl Mulino, former President Ricardo Martinelli’s replacement in Panama’s presidential election, was poised to become the Central American nation’s new leader as authorities unofficially announced the race Sunday evening after which its three closest rivals have conceded.
The 64-year-old former security minister received almost 35% of the vote with more than 92% of votes counted, giving him a nine-point lead over his closest competitor.
Mulino replaced Martinelli as candidate after the firebrand former leader was barred from running after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering.
“Mission accomplished,” Mulino told a crowd of supporters, adding an expletive for emphasis. “This is perhaps the most important date of my life, and the greatest responsibility of a Panamanian rests on my shoulders and that of my family, who must direct the destiny of the nation.”
In his speech, he nodded to Martinelli, saying, “When you invited me to be vice president, I never imagined this.”
Supporters of Achieving Goals presidential candidate José Raul Mulino celebrate early results after the close of Panama’s general elections on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
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Supporters of Achieving Goals presidential candidate José Raul Mulino celebrate early results after the close of Panama’s general elections on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
Mulino, a less charismatic politician, relied on Martinelli’s popularity and the booming economy seen under the former leader as Martinelli campaigned while staying at the Nicaraguan embassy, where he had requested asylum.
Now, after one of the most tumultuous elections in Panama’s recent history, Mulino is poised to become the new leader of a country facing pressing challenges and simmering discontent among many.
The president will face a slowing economy, historic levels of migration, a drought that is hampering transit through the Panama Canal and the economic consequences of last year’s massive anti-mining protests.
“It’s a very bizarre situation, unprecedented. I haven’t seen anything like this, not just in Panama but in any other Latin American country that I can think of,” said Michael Shifter, senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue . “Panama is going through a tumultuous time.”
Preliminary results showed that more than 77 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, a historic turnout in a country where voting is not compulsory, further underscoring the importance of the election in the minds of Panamanians.
Panama does not have a runoff system, so the candidate with the most votes wins.
Mulino, candidate of the Achieving Goals and Alliance parties, faced anti-corruption candidate Ricardo Lombana, runner-up, former president Martín Torrijos and former candidate Rómulo Roux.
All three conceded Sunday evening, and outgoing President Laurentino Cortizo’s office said he had called Mulino to offer congratulations and pledge to work with him for an orderly transition.
An election worker holds a ballot as he counts it after polls closed for the general election in Panama City on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
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An election worker holds a ballot as he counts it after polls closed for the general election in Panama City on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
Mulino’s ties to Martinelli are what seemed to push him over the finish line. Mulino ran on a promise to usher in a new wave of economic prosperity and end migration through the Darien Gap, the perilous jungle region straddling Colombia and Panama that has been crossed by half a million of migrants last year.
The lawyer also pledged to help his ally in his legal woes. After voting Sunday, Mulino went to the Nicaraguan embassy, followed by photographers, and hugged Martinelli, telling him: “Brother, we are going to win!”
Before even half the votes were counted, supporters at Mulino’s campaign headquarters erupted in joy, singing and waving flags.
Martinelli posted a blurry photo of his own face on social media platform X, writing: “It’s the face of a happy, content man.” Now that Mulino is on the way, what remains to be seen is whether the president-elect will become “Martinelli’s puppet” or chart his own course, Shifter said.
A man votes with the help of a woman during the general elections in Panama City on Sunday.
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A man votes with the help of a woman during the general elections in Panama City on Sunday.
Matias Delacroix/AP
Despite fatigue with Panama’s endemic corruption, many voters like Juan José Tinoco were willing to overlook the other corruption scandals that plagued their former leader in favor of the booming economy seen during his presidency. The 63-year-old bus driver voted for Mulino from his working-class neighborhood of small concrete houses surrounded by extravagant skyscrapers.
“We have problems with health services, education, we have trash in the streets… and corruption that never goes away,” Tinoco said. “We have money here. It’s a country that has a lot of wealth, but we need a leader who is dedicated to the needs of Panama.”
The presidential race was in uncertain waters until Friday morning, when Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that Mulino was allowed to run. He said he was eligible despite allegations that his candidacy was not legitimate because he was not elected in a primary.
Mulino faces an uphill battle going forward, especially economically. Last year, the Central American nation was rocked for weeks by massive anti-government protests, which ultimately encapsulated deeper discontent among citizens.
The protests targeted a government contract with a copper mine, which critics say was endangering the environment and water at a time when drought has become so severe that it has effectively handicapped commercial transit through the canal from Panama.
While many celebrated the country’s Supreme Court’s decision in November to declare the contract unconstitutional, the mine’s closure and reduced transit through the canal will put Panama’s new leader in a difficult situation.
Meanwhile, the country’s debt is soaring and much of the economy has slowed, said Inter-American Dialogue’s Shifter, making it even more difficult for Mulino to regularize transit through the canal and curb skyrocketing levels of migration across the Darien Gap.
“Panama is in a very different moment than it has been in the last 30 years,” Shifter said. Mulino “is going to face formidable obstacles. I mean, it’s going to be a daunting task for him.”
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