Panamanian general election, 2014

Panamanian general election, 2014
Panama
4 May 2014 (2014-05-04)

 
Nominee Juan Carlos Varela José Domingo Arias Juan Carlos Navarro
Party PP CD PRD
Running mate Isabel Saint Malo Marta Linares de Martinelli Gerardo Solís
Popular vote 724,762 581,828 521,842
Percentage 39.1% 31.4% 28.1%

President before election

Ricardo Martinelli
Democratic Change

Elected President

Juan Carlos Varela
Panameñista Party

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Panama

General elections were held in Panama on 4 May 2014.[1] Due to constitutional term limits, Incumbent President Ricardo Martinelli was ineligible for a second consecutive term. Incumbent Vice President Juan Carlos Varela of the Partido Panameñista was declared the victor with 39% of the votes counted.[2]

Electoral system

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 forms a constituency. Constituencies elect one MP for every 30,000 residents and an additional representative for every fraction over 10,000.[3]

In single-member constituencies MPs are elected using the first-past-the-post system. In multi-member constituencies MPs are elected using party list proportional representation according to a double quotient; the first allocation of seats uses a simple quotient, further seats are allotted using the quotient divided by two, with any remaining seats are awarded to the parties with the greatest remainder.[3]

Presidential candidates

Seven candidates contested the election:[4]

Opinion polls

Poll source Date José Domingo Arias
(CD)
Juan Carlos Navarro
(PRD)
Juan Carlos Varela
(Panameñista)
Dichter & Neira[5] March 2014 39% 32% 26%
Ipsos[5] March 2014 33% 31% 26%
Dichter & Neira[6] 23 April 2014 35% 30% 32%
Ipsos[7] 23 April 2014 33.9% 34.2% 29.1%

Results

President

Candidate Party Votes %
Juan Carlos VarelaPanameñista Party724,76239.09
José Domingo AriasDemocratic Change581,82831.38
Juan Carlos NavarroDemocratic Revolutionary Party521,84228.14
Genaro LópezBroad Front for Democracy11,1270.60
Juan JovanéIndependent10,8050.58
Esteban RodríguezIndependent2,2400.12
Gerardo BarrosoIndependent1,5980.09
Valid votes1,854,20298.30
Invalid votes17,1620.91
Blank votes14,9440.79
Total votes1,886,308100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,457,40176.76
Source: Election Tribunal (100% of polling stations counted)

National Assembly

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Democratic Change573,60333.7230+16
Democratic Revolutionary Party535,74731.4925–1
Panameñista Party343,88020.2212–10
Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement121,8157.162
People's Party56,6293.331
Independents52,1843.071-1
Broad Front for Democracy17,2241.010New
Total1,701,082100.00710
Valid votes1,701,08292.06
Invalid votes75,5424.09
Blank votes71,1763.85
Total votes1,847,800100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,457,40175.19
Source: Election Tribunal

Although Democratic Change won 30 seats and MOLIRENA 2, rival candidates in 10 of the circuits won by CD and 1 of those won by MOLIRENA said there were irregularities throughout the elections that favored the winning parties. As such, the Electoral Tribunal of Panama annulled the results in those circuits and new special elections will be held every Sunday since 16 November 2014 to determine which candidate will win one of those 11 seats.

As of now, the results are:

Election Date Circuit Candidate Party
16 November 2014 7-1 Carlos "Tito" Afú Democratic Change (CD)
23 November 2014 2-4 Noriel Salerno Democratic Change (CD)
30 November 2014 7-2 Mariela Vega Democratic Change (CD)
14 December 2014 4-1 Miguel Fanovich Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (MOLIRENA)
14 December 2014 4-1 Florentino Ábrego Panameñista Party

References

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