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Guillermo Endara has rounded out his presidential slate by adding Alejandro Posse, a Chiriqui resident and Arnulfista Party member (for now) who served as Mireya Moscoso’s minister of agricultural development until he stepped aside over political differences, as the Solidaridad candidate for second vice-president. Meanwhile something of a rump MOLIRENA convention chose Jesús “Maco” Rosas as Mireyista candidate José Miguel Alemán’s running mate in the first vice-president slot. It appears that Alemán’s ticket will be rounded out with Liberal Nacional leader Aníbal Galindo as the candidate for second vice-president. Martín Torrijos has said that his running mates won’t be selected until early next year.

Guillermo Endara’s running mate Alejandro Posse, a long-time Arnulfista who accuses the Mireyistas of betraying the traditions of Arnulfo Arias, is a “traitor” as far as José Miguel Alemán is concerned. It seems that, like Endara, Posse will be thrown out of the party for opposing Mireya’s candidate. Polls indicate that most rank-and-file Arnulfistas are likely to vote for Endara and Posse against Alemán’s ticket. “Betrayal has always been a part of our history,” Alemán told reporters who asked him about the state of Arnulfismo while covering a campaign swing through Chiriqui. Of course, Alemán doesn’t own the Arnulfista Party. Mireya Moscoso does, and she says that Posse has to go.

When Billy Ford, a co-founder of MOLIRENA and long its most popular leader --- at least with the public, if not within the party --- decided to join Guillermo Endara’s slate, party boss Jesús “Maco” Rosas said that he wouldn’t bring disciplinary proceedings against Ford. Never mind. Charges against Ford have been brought before the party’s Honor Tribunal, which normally is the first step toward expulsion from the party.

Chiriqui’s Arnulfista Party boss, Einar Fanovich, says he’ll file a formal complaint with the Electoral Tribunal against the Solidaridad campaign, because when Guillermo Endara appears on the campaign trail rank-and-file Arnulfista and MOLIRENA party members and supporters show up waving Arnulfista and MOLIRENA flags and wearing those parties’ baseball caps and t- shirts. People who have been purged aren’t supposed to have supporters from their erstwhile parties, Fanovich would have the tribunal declare.

Cambio Democratico candidate Ricardo Martinelli says that there are 200,000 foreigners living and working in Panama illegally, and in the remote event that he is elected president, the supermarket baron says that he will impose penalties on people who hire them. Martinelli said that he’s not xenophobic, but alleged that these people take money out of the Panamanian economy and the country can’t afford it.

On October 16 Martín Torrijos, José Miguel Alemán and Ricardo Martinelli all signed a solemn pledge to strengthen the educational system if they are elected next year. Guillermo Endara passed, arguing that the nation’s educational problems can’t be solved by signing vague pledges.


Also in this section:
Panama News Briefs
Cascading scandal envelopes all three government branches
Polls indicate political sea change
Torrijos shifts gears
On the campaign trail

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