Panama VP wins ruling party’s presidential primaries for 2024

Electoral authorities on Sunday declared Vice President José Gabriel Carrizo of Panama the winner of the Democratic Revolutionary Party’s (PRD) presidential primaries. The 40-year-old lawyer will represent the ruling political group in the country’s 2024 general election. 

The Panamanian Electoral Tribunal (TE) confirmed the results by the time Mr. Carrizo reached nearly 74 percent of votes, enough to make him the virtual winner. 

In his victory speech, the VP praised incumbent President Laurentino Cortizo, who he said “dealt with hardship” not faced by any of his predecessors — citing the “disastrous state” in which the current government found Panama’s public finances.

After a pandemic downturn, Panama’s GDP grew over 15 percent in 2021, but the country’s local economy has been hurt by the global hike in fuel prices.

Last year, Panamanians staged month-long protests fueled by frustration over their perception of corruption in the country and rising living costs. But Mr. Carrizo sad that “unity has been the key to [the] country’s most important victories, such as the recovery of sovereignty over the Panama Canal,” which accounts for roughly 6 percent of the nation’s GDP.

The latest poll, released by local daily La Estrella on April 18, puts Mr. Carrizo second in the presidential race with 28 percent of voting intentions — in a statistical tie with former President Ricardo Martinelli. 

Mr. Martinelli’s electoral status is uncertain as he awaits the outcome of a trial on money laundering charges. Prosecutors this month asked that he be handed a 12-year prison sentence.

In addition to a new president and vice president, Panamanians next May will choose 71 members of Congress, 20 representatives for the Central American parliament, and hundreds of other lower-level departmental and municipal positions. 

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