Related News
Panama votes for stores chief as president
Source: Agencies |
May 5, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SUPERMARKET magnate Ricardo Martinelli won Panama's presidential election in a landslide, promising to guide the country through the economic crisis and an ambitious expansion of the Panama Canal.
The win by Conservative Martinelli, of the opposition Alliance for Change, marked a rare center-right election triumph in a region that has seen a wave of leftist leaders.
Electoral Tribunal President Erasmo Pinilla called Martinelli the "indisputable winner" after preliminary results showed him with 61 percent support and governing party candidate Balbina Herrera with 37 percent.
Former President Guillermo Endara was a distant third. The winner was announced with 87 percent of the votes counted.
The United States-educated, pro-business Martinelli, 57, who owns Panama's largest supermarket chain, said he would work for a national unity government because "that is what the country is counting on."
"Tomorrow we will all be Panamanians and we will change this country so that it has a good health system, good education, good transportation and good security," he said.
Herrera, a 54-year-old who served as housing minister under outgoing President Martin Torrijos, conceded defeat late on Sunday and promised to respect the results.
She vowed to form "a responsible but very energetic opposition because we have stopped being a country of economic growth, with our house in order and a canal expansion plan in March."
The win by Conservative Martinelli, of the opposition Alliance for Change, marked a rare center-right election triumph in a region that has seen a wave of leftist leaders.
Electoral Tribunal President Erasmo Pinilla called Martinelli the "indisputable winner" after preliminary results showed him with 61 percent support and governing party candidate Balbina Herrera with 37 percent.
Former President Guillermo Endara was a distant third. The winner was announced with 87 percent of the votes counted.
The United States-educated, pro-business Martinelli, 57, who owns Panama's largest supermarket chain, said he would work for a national unity government because "that is what the country is counting on."
"Tomorrow we will all be Panamanians and we will change this country so that it has a good health system, good education, good transportation and good security," he said.
Herrera, a 54-year-old who served as housing minister under outgoing President Martin Torrijos, conceded defeat late on Sunday and promised to respect the results.
She vowed to form "a responsible but very energetic opposition because we have stopped being a country of economic growth, with our house in order and a canal expansion plan in March."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
