General elections were held in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

on 4 May 2014. Due to constitutional term limits,

Incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ricardo Martinelli Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal (born March 11, 1951) is a Panamanian politician and businessman who was the 36th President of Panama, president of Panama from 2009 to 2014. Early life Born in Panama City, Ricardo Martinelli is the son ...

was ineligible for a second consecutive term. Incumbent Vice President

Juan Carlos Varela Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez (; born 13 December 1963) is a Panamanian businessman and former politician who served as the President of Panama from 2014 to 2019. Varela was Vice President of Panama from 2009 to 2014, and Minister of Foreign ...

of the Partido Panameñista was declared the victor with 39% of the votes.

Electoral system

Of the 71 members of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

, 26 were elected in single-member constituencies and 45 by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. Each

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

with more than 40,000 inhabitants forms a constituency. Constituencies elect one MP for every 30,000 residents and an additional representative for every fraction over 10,000.Electoral system
IPU In single-member constituencies MPs are elected using the

first-past-the-post system In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

. In multi-member constituencies MPs are elected using party list

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

according to a double quotient; the first allocation of seats uses a simple quotient, further seats are allotted using the quotient divided by two, with any remaining seats are awarded to the parties with the greatest remainder.

Presidential candidates

Seven candidates contested the election:Panama
IFES *

José Domingo Arias José Domingo Arias Villalaz is a Panamanian economist and politician, and was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2014 presidential elections. Background and early life José Domingo Arias was born on 26 October 1963 in Panama City.Cambio Democrático (CD), a former minister in Martinelli's government * Juan Carlos Navarro -

Democratic Revolutionary Party The Democratic Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Democrático, PRD) is a political party in Panama founded in 1979 by General Omar Torrijos. It is generally described as being positioned on the centre-left. History Since its creat ...

(PRD), former mayor of

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

Panameñista Party The Panameñista Party is a nationalist political party in Panama. It was the third largest party by number of adherents with 256,138 members (as of February 2016). Founding and early history The party is the oldest continuously operating pa ...

, incumbent Vice President *

Genaro López Genaro López Rodríguez (born 26 July 1954 in Chitra, Calobre District, Veraguas Province, Panama) is a Panamanian union leader and politician. He is best known as secretary-general of the building workers' union Suntracs, 1990–2010; as leade ...

Broad Front for Democracy The Broad Front for Democracy ( es, link=no, Frente Amplio por la Democracia) was a Panamanian political party originally founded in 2013. At the 2014 Panamanian general election, the candidate's party was Genaro López for the Presidency A pr ...

(FAD), former General Secretary of the SUNTRACS union *Juan Jované - Independent, former head of the Social Security administration, and a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

economist *Esteban Rodríguez - Independent *Gerardo Barroso - Independent

Opinion polls

Results

President

National Assembly

Although Democratic Change won 30 seats and MOLIRENA two, rival candidates in 10 of the circuits won by CD and 1 of those won by MOLIRENA said there were irregularities throughout the elections that favored the winning parties. As such, the Electoral Tribunal of Panama annulled the results in those circuits and new special elections were to be held every Sunday from 16 November 2014 to determine which candidate would win those 11 seats.

References

{{Panamanian elections

Elections in Panama 2014 in Panama Presidential elections in Panama