José Mulino, the “dolphin” of a former president disqualified for corruption, wins presidential elections in Panama

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José Raúl Mulino, the dolphin of former president Ricardo Martinelli disqualified for corruption, was elected this Sunday as the new president of Panama, prevailing with a wide difference over its direct adversarieswho saw how the votes were divided among them while the candidate who promised to return the money to the pockets of Panamanians prevailed.

With more than 90% of the votes counted, Mulino obtained 34.4% of the ballots, compared to 25% for the anti-system Ricardo Lombana, of the Other Path Movement (Moca), and 16% for former president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009). , of the Popular Party (PP), and 11.2% achieved by Rómulo Roux, of Democratic Change (CD).

All of them acknowledged defeat, the last of them Lombana, who ran as the great candidate against corruptionattributed to the figure of former president Ricardo Martinelli, and by extension to his supporter, José Raúl Mulino.

“We are the main opposition force of the Republic of Panama”Lombana stated in his speech tonight.

The few polls had already predicted this by placing Mulino at the top of the list of eight presidential candidates, followed in most cases by former president Martín Torrijos, Lombana and Roux alternating in the position, with a “technical tie” between them.

However, in the days leading up to this election day, which passed without hardly any incidents and with a high turnout of almost 77%, many remembered what happened in 2014, when José Domingo “Mimito” Arias, candidate of former President Martinelli (2009- 2014), he went from leading the polls to suddenly being in second place, behind Juan Carlos Varela, who appeared in the polls in third position.

This time, Martinelli’s bet triumphed, a former president who remained euphoric during election day, as the results became known, using social networks as a communication channel, since he has been sheltered in the Nicaraguan Embassy since last March, when his candidacy was disqualified after being sentenced to more than ten years in prison for money laundering.

“It is now certain that José Raúl Mulino of Realando Metas RM and the Alianza Party will be the clear winners of the Presidency of the Republic of Panama,” Martinelli declared on the social network proselytizing or political comments from the embassy due to his asylum status.

Martinelli, the large shadow of Mulino

Martinelli was once again present on this election day as he has done during the political campaign in recent months: after voting, his dolphin Mulino went to visit him at the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama, where they both merged in a fraternal hug within the diplomatic headquarters.

But Mulino didn’t have it all with him either. It was not until last Friday, two days before the elections, that the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of Panama decided to declare that the decision of March 4 of the Electoral Tribunal to designate him in extremis as a candidate to replace him was not unconstitutional. to Martinelli.

Last March, the Supreme Court had admitted a claim of unconstitutionality against the Agreement of the Electoral Tribunal (TE), that that same month he appointed the vice presidential candidate Mulino as Martinelli’s replacementdespite a lawsuit against the measure that argued that Mulino aspired to the presidency without a vice presidential candidate, which violates constitutional articles, and that he was not elected in primaries by the party that supported him, Realizing Goals.

Mulino, a long-time politician who was Minister of Security and Government during the Martinelli administration, assures that he will return to the “good times” of the administration of his political supporter, when it consolidated itself as the country with the highest economic growth in the region, in addition to building the first Metro in Central America.

In July 2009, Martinelli appointed him Minister of Government (Interior) and Justice, and in April 2010 he became Minister of Public Security. having an eventful management due to the repression in July of that same year of protests by banana workers in the Bocas del Toro region (Caribbean), with a death toll of two, dozens of injured and more than a hundred detained.

At the beginning of the Administration of Juan Carlos Varela (2014-2019), he was accused of corruption in relation to the Italian company Finmeccanica for allegedly receiving commissions for the purchase of 19 radars, a case for which he was preventively imprisoned for seven months until April. 2016. This case was annulled in August 2017.

José Raúl Mulino has said publicly that if he came to power he would “help” Martinelli “as appropriate according to the law,” after the current Government denied him safe passage to travel to Nicaragua.