2019 Panamanian general election

2019 Panamanian general election

← 2014 5 May 2019 (2019-05-05) 2024 →
Presidential election
Turnout	73.01% ( 3.75pp)
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 Vote % 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]

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]

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]

The following seven candidates contested the election:^[16]

• Laurentino "Nito" Cortizo – Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)
• José Isabel Blandón - Panameñista Party
• Rómulo Roux - Cambio Democrático (CD)
• Saúl Méndez - Broad Front for Democracy (FAD)
• Ana Matilde Gómez - Independent
• Marco Ameglio - Independent
• Ricardo Lombana - Independent

Nito Cortizo won the PRD's presidential primary, held on 16 September 2023. He defeated Assembly member Zulay Rodríguez and former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares.^[17] The Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement allied itself with the PRD.^[18][19] He selected José Gabriel Carrizo as his running mate.^[20]

Panama City mayor José Blandón won the Panameñista primary, beating former Housing Minister Mario Etchelecu.^[21] The People's Party allied itself with the Panameñista Party,^[22] maintaining the alliance that had also been seen in the 2014 elections.^[23] He selected Nilda Quijano as his running mate.^[24]

Rómulo Roux, a former Canal Minister and Foreign Minister, won the CD presidential primary, defeating José Raúl Mulino,^[25] winning 68% to Mulino's 29%.^[26] He chose reporter Luis Casis as his running mate.^[27]

The Alliance Party was a new political party led by Assembly member José Muñoz. José Domingo Arias, the losing CD presidential candidate in 2014, won its primary with over 90% of the vote.^[28] The party later chose to ally itself with the CD candidacy of Rómulo Roux,^[29] with Arias declining his presidential candidacy.^[30]

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