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A CID/Gallup poll published by El Panama America on February 3 has Martín Torrijos holding an eight-point lead over Guillermo Endara, 42 to 34 percent, with José Miguel Alemán way behind with eight percent support and supermarket baron Ricardo Martinelli at four points. That shows Endara holding steady where he has been the past three months and Torrijos down a couple of points in an essentially static race. One interesting discrepancy is the relatively large difference in the number of people expressing support for Endara by voice and when given a ballot to mark preferences. By ballot Endara gets 34 percent, but voice 29. It seems that many people do not want to be heard saying they support Endara but will mark their preferences that way on a folded up sheet of paper. That probably means that some people whose jobs depend on loyalty to the Moscoso administration are playing along like Mireyistas but plan to vote for Endara, and that on the other hand it looks to most Panamanians likely will elect Torrijos and some people don’t like to admit backing a loser. If those factors are significant then Endara may have some support that “flies under the radar” of polling techniques and the race may be closer than eight points.

The Electoral Tribunal has upheld a similar prior decision on reconsideration and banned a second television commercial for Guillermo Endara because it showed him with the late Arnulfo Arias, whose likeness and personality the Arnulfista Party claims as its registered property. Against this claimed ownership of the dead, Endara claimed a right to portray his own past. For the second ad the tribunal imposed a $100 fine, but suspended the sentence.

On February 2 MEDCOM held a candidate’s debate where the public submitted questions, and the dominant themes were the economy and corruption. The various “instant polls” generally showed that people believed that the candidate whom they are supporting won the debate, with the exception that Ricardo Martinelli got somewhat higher debating marks from folks who most likely won’t vote for him, surpassing third-place candidate José Miguel Alemán in some polls about who won. Front-runner Martín Torrijos stressed the need to put the unemployed to work, while second-place candidate Guillermo Endara called for an all-out assault on corruption because he said that demands for bribes are driving investors away from Panama. Alemán accused the PRD of impeding economic progress when they and their Partido Popular allies controlled the legislature and didn’t approve of all the president’s contemplated uses of the proceeds from the privatization sales of state-owned enterprises. Martinelli promised that his job creation programs would quickly cause labor shortages because there would be high demand for workers. Endara and Martinelli said that they’d ask for the Supreme Court magistrates’ resignations if elected, while Alemán said he’s for changes in the ways that high court nominations are made and Torrijos ducked the question.

Aha! It seemed that Vice-Minister of Government and Justice Alejandro Pérez had been caught red-handed doing the political talk show routine during working hours. The Electoral Tribunal has warned about that sort of thing. But never mind --- he said he had a note from the president, which gave him the day off to campaign. Now Pérez will be taking a leave of absence until May 2 in order to dedicate full time to the Mireyista campaign.

Erstwhile PRD legislator Carlos Afú, running for re-election in his Las Tablas district on the Arnulfista, MOLIRENA and Liberal Nacional tickets, is getting some direct help from the president. She’s spending lots of money in the district, and at a recent inauguration of a project to build 33 streets in Las Tablas she attributed the improvements to Afú.

Boxer Roberto Durán apparently doesn’t like the single-digits life. In any case, he stepped down as the first suplente running mate of the Arnulfista, MOLIRENA and Liberal Nacional candidate for mayor of Panama City, Marco Ameglio. Public opinion polls have shown Ameglio trailing front-runner and incumbent Juan Carlos Navarro by a wide margin.

It will be some weeks before polls indicate how well she’s being received, and the question of money will probably be decisive, but the Solidaridad party has nominated a credible candidate for Panama City mayor. Mariela Jiménez is an educator who was elected to the legislature in 1994 on the Papa Egoro ticket, then defeated for re-election running with the Renovacion Civilista party in 1999. Identified with neither the Arnulfistas nor the PRD and a charismatic black woman who has held public office without any scandals, Jiménez will have her attractive points for voters. However, she’s running against Tropigas (the Navarro family) and Bonlac (the Ameglio family) as well as Cambio Democratico (Super 99) challenger Carlos Zavala. If someone like Solidaridad leader Samuel Lewis Galindo decides to spend a lot of money on the capital’s mayoral race, then Jiménez could take off and Navarro could be in trouble. Without such major financial backing, it will be hard for the middle class Jiménez to win.






Also in this section:
Panama news briefs
ANAM director rejects environmental study for Mireya's road, steps down
Huge crowd for Alemán rally
Torrijos fires up the campaign workers
Otto Reich warns of corruption's consequences
On the campaign trail
All of the candidates have been nominated

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