MAYORALTY PRIMER: Public service or springboard?

In the unending overload of presidential campaign rhetoric, the five candidates aspiring to be mayor of Panama City have been pushed away from the spotlight, except for ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, who may not be allowed to run.

Panama, as a result of decentralization, is the district that handles the most funds. Between 2016 and 2017 it had $310.6 million and, the city it employs over 2,600 permanent staff.

Some, 662,357 voters will decide who will take charge of the largest municipality in the Republic and perhaps use it like the current mayor Jose Isobel Blandon as a springboard to the presidency.

There are four candidates of political parties and one independent.

The PRD  and Molirena)nominated José Luis Fábrega, The Panameñista Party and the Popular Party nominated the current deputy for the circuit 8-7, Adolfo Beby Valderrama. The Broad Front for Democracy (FAD) put forward Diogenes Sanchez.

Cambio Democrático (CD) and Alianza promote former president Ricardo Martinelli, a candidacy on hold while an electoral judge resolves appeals seeking to disqualify him.

Raúl Ricardo Rodríguez is the independent candidate with a CD background..

The novice in political affairs is Sánchez, former secretary of the Panama Teachers Association. he is also a FAD candidate for deputy.

Fábrega was a deputy in the National Assembly from 2009 to 2014. In the 2014 elections, he ran for mayor and was defeated by Blandón.

Valderrama enrolled in the Panameñista in 1995. He was elected deputy in the 2009 and 2014 elections. 

Martinelli is currently being held in El Renacer prison while being tried for allegedly spying on at least 150 people. He also wants to be a deputy for the 8-8, constituency – also being challenged before the Electoral Tribunal.

Rodríguez The independent candidate was an unsuccessful  CD candidate for deputy in the last election but failed to win.

PROMISES
Fábrega proposes the creation of popular markets to help the “agroindustry”; sports scholarships for outstanding athletes, a unit against violence to animals.

Valderrama promises to expand the surveillance camera system, build two new “mega parks” and establish municipal pharmacies and houses for “homeless people”,

Rodríguez proposes the ordering of the capital and a system of street names, a sports cup in which five disciplines will compete, and the construction of recreational centers for the elderly.

Martinelli spokespersons promise to build sports complexes, create care centers for the elderly, places to buy “cheap food” and daycare centers with 24-hour attention.

Sánchez will “democratize the resources of the Mayor’s Office” to attend to forgotten corregimientos. Like its contenders and , promises municipal markets and improved. waste management.

All the mayoral candidates are men. But four of them have a woman as running mate Martinelli,, chose current 8-7 deputy,  Sergio Chello Gálvez who likes to describe himself as a sexual buffalo.

The candidate for vice mayor of Fabrega is the social communicator Judy Meana, recently enrolled in the Molirena.

Attorney  Edna Jaramillo, who worked at the Public Prosecutor’s Office and was a news anchor at TVN, accompanies Valderrama.

Nilva Góngora , currently in charge of the Women’s Secretariat of  the  FAD is the running mate of Sanchez

Sandra Escorcia former director of the Transport Authority joins Rodriguez on the hustings.

The Mayor’s Office has also served as a political springboard for some. Juan Carlos Navarro, who after being mayor for two terms, represented his party in the 2014 presidential elections, but was defeated.

Meanwhile, Blandón went from deputy to mayor of the capital, to presidential candidate of the ruling party.

 Majin Correa     A former mayor close to Martinelli became Governor of Panama province and is now a CD candidate for deputy.