General elections were held in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

on 8 May 1994, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.

Ernesto Pérez Balladares Ernesto Pérez Balladares González-Revilla (born June 29, 1946), nicknamed ''El Toro'' ("The Bull"), is a Panamanian politician who was the President of Panama between 1994 and 1999. Educated in the United States, Pérez Balladares worked as ...

stood as a candidate for the

Democratic Revolutionary Party The Democratic Revolutionary Party (, PRD) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party in Panama founded in 1979 by General Omar Torrijos. To date, it has been the party of four Panamian presidents: Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino ( ...

(PRD), opposing

Mireya Moscoso Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez (born 1 July 1946) is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first and to date only female president. Born into a rural family, Moscoso became act ...

of the Arnulfista Party and the salsa singer

Rubén Blades Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...

, who was then president of the party Papa Egoro. In the 1989 general election, Pérez Balladares had served as the campaign manager for

Carlos Duque Carlos Alberto Duque Jaén (March 12, 1930 – October 31, 2014) was a Panamanian businessman and politician who was President-for-Life of Panama's Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD). He was a presidential candidate for the PRD in the 19 ...

, the hand-picked candidate of military ruler

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno ( , ; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially serv ...

, and his 1994 opponents sought to emphasize his connection with Noriega, broadcasting pictures of the two together. Pérez Balladares denied the link, describing the current PRD as "diametrically opposed" to Noriega's policies. Instead, he worked to position himself as a successor to Torrijos, who was regarded as a national hero. The incumbent Arnulfista Party, meanwhile, was seen as hobbled by dissatisfaction with the perceived incompetence and corruption of Endara's government. He ultimately won the election with 33% of the vote, with Moscoso receiving 29% and Blades receiving 17%. The PRD "also achieved an effective majority in the new National Assembly. The big surprise was not the victory of the PRD, but the nearly successful challenge of Mireya Moscoso de Gruber, the candidate of the Arnulfista Party".Falcoff, Mark. The 1994 Panamanian elections: post-election report. Washington: CSIS Americas Program. 1994. Pp. 1.

Results

President

National Assembly

References

{{Panamanian elections

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Elections in Panama Presidential elections in Panama May 1994 in North America