2019 Panamanian general election

Legislative election
	This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
	File:Results of the 2019 Panama Legislative election.png Results by circuit

Legislative election
	Presidential election
	300px Results by province
President before election; Juan Carlos Varela; Panameñista Party	Elected President; Laurentino Cortizo; PRD
	This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
	File:Results of the 2019 Panama Legislative election.png Results by circuit

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]

Background

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]

Electoral system

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]

Presidential candidates

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

Candidate selection

Democratic Revolutionary Party

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]

Panameñista Party

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]

Democratic Change

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]

Alliance Party

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]