Congratulations to the new President of Panama

Last night, there was a general election in Panama and a new President was chosen for the country. The voter turnout is usually 70 - 80 %, which means that most of those who can do vote.

The banners and ads were out in full force at least 3 months before the election, when we moved here in February.

On the Saturday, before Sunday's election, stores stopped selling alcohol at noon, and restaurants stopped serving it until the election was over. The stores must've been busy before the noon deadline... On election day, the buses were free, and there were no tolls collected on the roads. 

There are 3 major parties in Panama, and none of the parties have been in power more than 1 term in a row since Noriega. It is perceived that Panamanians don't want any party to rule beyond 1 term... or there is a danger of dictatorship (somehow I'm reminded of Nicaragua, go figure.)

So it came to be that a center-rightist Juan Carlos Varela was elected President by a 7% margin. 

Jose Domingo Arias, despite being backed by the incumbent President, spending lots of money, and having the president's wife as the vice-presidential -candidate, lost.

In general, it's not expected that a lot will change with the new president, and why would it? Things are going well for Panama, with the growing economy.  However, in the local congress, the new president-elect's party has only a minority of representatives. This means that he must seek to cooperate with the 3rd party, in order to get anything through the congress. He cab't go to Arias's party, because being the former vice president, and later falling out with the president doesn't grant him a warm welcome there...