Panama elects Martinelli

Panama's presidential candidate Ricardo Martinelli clasps hands with his running mate Juan Carlos Varela during his victory speech in Panama City, Sunday, May 3, 2009. Panama's Electoral Tribunal announced the supermarket magnate Martinelli won the Central American nation's presidential elections.
ARNULFO FRANCO / AP

PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Panamanian supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli won Sunday's presidential election after a campaign criticizing the ruling party's performance on crime, living costs and U.S. relations.

Martinelli, the owner of a supermarket chain called Super 99, defeated Balbina Herrera, a former housing minister in the current government, the electoral board announced at a news conference in Panama City. The final results of the vote were not immediately released.

Martinelli, 57, inherits a slowing economy and a free-trade agreement stalled in the U.S. Congress on concerns about Panama's tax and labor laws.

Going into the election Martinelli, of the opposition Alliance for Change, had a double-digit lead in the polls over Herrera, the candidate of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party.

Martinelli, whose term ends in 2014, will have to guide Panama through a $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal to increase its capacity and accommodate larger ships.

Few problems were reported despite heavy turnout at the country's 2,382 voting stations, observers from the Organization of American States said in a preliminary report issued after polls closed.

The candidates cast their ballots and talked of unity, regardless of the outcome.

''I believe in God and the Panamanian people,'' Herrera said at a school in the capital.

''Both winners and losers must work to improve the country,'' Martinelli said. ``Our problems don't end with an election.''

The winner takes office July 1, replacing President Martin Torrijos.

Both Martinelli, 57, and Herrera, 54, supported the canal expansion, but recent world economic woes have generated uncertainty over the project, which is receiving $2.3 billion in international financing.

The canal project, which was approved in a 2006 referendum, is expected to create about 5,000 direct jobs in the small Central American nation between 2010 and 2011, when construction is at its peak, according to authorities.

The project would be ''one of the points most closely attended to'' by a Martinelli government, said Roberto Henriquez, vice president of Martinelli's political party.

Panama's economy grew by an annual average of 8.7 percent over the past five years, and unemployment fell from 12 percent to 5.6 percent. The growth was fueled by foreign and state investment by the outgoing government of President Martin Torrijos. Growth this year is projected to be 3-4 percent.

Also running was Guillermo Endara, a longshot candidate who served as president from 1989-1994.

Panamanians also elected a vice president, members of Congress, mayors and other local officials. More than 2.2 million people were eligible to vote, and the country's Elections Tribunal said it expected turnout of more than 75 percent.