The various political parties and alliances have filed their slates of candidates for representantes, mayors, legislators, members of the Central American Parliament , president and vice-presidents, plus alternates for most of these 800 or so posts to be filled by the voters on May 2. The deadline, which all the parties met, was on February 2. In all, more than 11,000 people are running for something.
The Panama City mayor’s race might be the most exciting filing day development. Former Mayor Mayín Correa, who might have given the incumbent who unseated her, Juan Carlos Navarro, a major battle along the way toward re-election. But Correa, a radio show host who had also been mentioned as candidate for the Legislative Assembly or the Central American Parliament, isn’t running for anything this time. Nor is the man who finished second in 1999’s close three-way mayoral race, Miguel Antonio Bernal (also a radio show host), seeking an elected post.
However, at almost the last minute Solidaridad chose educator and former Papa Egoro legislator Mariela Jiménez as its candidate for Panama City mayor. If she gets sufficient financial backing she could give Mayor Navarro a tough challenge. Arnulfista Marco Ameglio and Cambio Democratico’s Carlos Zavala are likely also-rans in the four-way mayoral race.
All the parties except Cambio Democratico fielded slates for Central American Parliament --- even Solidaridad, whose standard bearer Guillermo Endara refused to take the seat that outgoing presidents get in PARLACEN. The Arnulfista slate looks like a list of hot suspects in the principal scandals of Mireya Moscoso administration, while the PRD list looks like a reunion of party bosses from bygone days.
Though the Arnulfistas ran people for every spot on the ballot, a number of semi-defections are more than anything else a collective tribute to the unpopularity of the Arnulfista label this year. For example, Arnulfista representante Minerva de Batista, who is popular in her corregimiento of Betania and served as president of the Panama City Council for a year, is running for the legislature --- but on the Liberal Nacional ticket instead of as an Arnulfista. (She also has former PRD legislator Mario Rognoni running for suplente on her ticket.) In Chame and San Carlos, the Arnulfistas dashed the hopes of Junior Herrera and threw their support to Arturo Araúz of the Liberal Nacional party.
One Arnulfista candidate, Gloria Young, will be seeking re-election from another district than the one she currently represents. Young, an educator who founded Panama’s first battered women’s shelter and was first elected by San Miguelito voters to the assembly in 1994 on the Papa Egoro ticket are re-elected in 1999 running as an Arnulfista, will try to get back into the legislature from Puerto Armuelles, where her husband comes from and to where she has had her official residence changed.
Papa Egoro’s founder, entertainer Rubén Blades, is supporting Martín Torrijos and says that he wants to move back to Panama and play a role in the next government. Blades and Young had a legendary falling out after the 1994 elections, when he went back to the United States and tried to run the party from there. Mariela Jiménez sided with Young over that but didn’t follow her into the Arnulfista Party, instead running unsuccessfully for re-election on the Renovacion Civilista ticket in 1999.
The guy who used forged documents to support allegations that Blades was backed by Fidel Castro in the final days of the 1994 campaign, Leo González, is running to get back in the legislature on the Solidarity ticket. González was voted out of office in 1994, and spent most of the Moscoso administration as Ricardo Martinelli’s number two man at the Ministry of Canal Affairs. Late last year he bolted from Martinelli’s Cambio Democratico to support the Endara campaign.
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
