PANAMA: MIREYA MOSCOSO WINS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Panama's Electoral Tribunal declared Mireya Moscoso the winner in the May 2 presidential election. The election is of historic importance, not only because Moscoso will become Panama's first woman president when she is sworn in Sept. 1, but also because she will preside over the reversion to Panama of the Panama Canal and all remaining US military bases on December 31. With almost all votes counted, Moscoso led runner up Martin Torrijos--son of Gen. Omar Torrijos--45% to 38%. In third place was Alberto Vallarino with 17%. The governing Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) retained its plurality in the congress, however. Voter turnout was nearly 77% of registered voters. Though losing the presidency, the PRD-led Nueva Nacion coalition will control the Legislative Assembly. Unofficial figures showed the alliance taking 35 of the 71 seats, while Moscoso's Union por Panama coalition won 26 and Vallarino's Accion Opositora coalition took 10. In the Panama City mayoral race, PRD candidate Juan Carlos Navarro defeated incumbent Mayin Correa, who was simultaneously running as the vice-presidential candidate with Vallarino's coalition. Moscoso, 52, is the leader of the Partido Arnulfista (PA), named after her husband, the late Arnulfo Arias--three times elected president and three times deposed by a military coup. The last time, he was overthrown by Gen. Torrijos in 1968. At the time of the ouster, Moscoso was secretary of the government's health insurance agency and went into exile in Miami. Moscoso ran a close second behind Ernesto Perez Balladares of the PRD in the 1994 presidential election.

Candidates did not differ on major issues Moscoso's Union por Panama is a mix of the populist PA and three conservative, pro-business parties: the Cambio Democratico (CD), which had earlier supported Perez Balladares' failed re-election bid, the Movimiento Liberal Republicano Nacionalista (MOLIRENA), and the Movimiento de Renovacion Nacional (MORENA) Moscoso campaigned promising an alternative to unpopular PRD policies and picturing Torrijos as more of the same, or "continuismo." Her slogan was "Mireya is change," but her program was short on alternatives. She called for moderation against extremes that Torrijos was not advocating. "We distance ourselves from the extreme positions and proposals of neoliberals and individualists, and we embrace the principles of solidarity, equity, and social justice without falling into the extremes of outdated socialism...

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