Front-Runner, José Raúl Mulino, Is Elected President of Panama

By Leila Miller

Reporting from Mexico City

Published May 5, 2024Updated May 6, 2024

Panamanians on Sunday elected José Raúl Mulino, a former public security minister, as their next president, in the culmination of an election cycle that was embroiled in political turmoil.

Mr. Mulino, 64, focused his campaign on job growth and promised to increase tourism and build a rail line connecting Panama City, the capital, with the country's interior that would create construction jobs. He also pledged to increase agricultural production, lower the cost of medicines and provide free internet access to schools.

Mr. Mulino received 34 percent of the vote with more than 90 percent of the votes counted on Sunday, according to the country's electoral tribunal, which declared him the winner of the single-round race. He had a 10 percentage point lead over his closest competitor, Ricardo Lombana, a former diplomat. Mr. Mulino will assume office on July 1, taking over from the departing president, Laurentino Cortizo.

"It's an honor for me, for my family, for my friends, to receive this call," Mr. Mulino said in a victory speech in Panama City on Sunday night. His election, he said, "implies an enormous weight on my shoulders," adding that he promised to do his best for the country.

In a field of eight candidates, Mr. Mulino led the polls, vowing to return Panama to the economic growth it experienced under Ricardo Martinelli, who was president from 2009 to 2014.

Mr. Martinelli, who is known to his supporters as "El loco," or the crazy one, had been a top presidential contender until he was disqualified earlier this year because of a money-laundering conviction in 2023. But from inside the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama City, where he was granted asylum, Mr. Martinelli strenuously campaigned for Mr. Mulino, who was his running mate and took his place on the ballot.

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