PP dissidents demand rejection of Panamenista alliance

THE LOW LEVEL of support for the presidential ambitions of Juan Carlos Varela has added fire to the claims of Popular Party (PP) dissidents that an alliance with the party he leads would be a political disaster.

PP Vice President, Anibal Culiolis on Monday, June 24 described the proposed alliance with the Panameñista as “a serious mistake and an imposition”.

Culiolis, is a member of the newly formed Panama Green movement within the PP which supports an alliance of the PP with the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). She called the PP leadership aims to settle for supporting Varela’s party as premature, unnatural and harmful.
According to Culiolis, panameñismo presidential candidate, Juan Carlos Varela, remains stagnant and his standing in the presidential race continues to decline.
"Inside his party there are those opposed to Varela who will consider another candidate, if he doesn’t climb the hill by October" she said on FOX Report.
Culiolis said that the PP-Panameñista alliance threatens the existence of the group, because in the end the votes of the PP instead of favoring the victory of the opposition coalition, will split the votes and benefit the ruling Democratic Change in the May 2014 elections.
Following the Culiolis line, another prominent PP member, Luis Castillo, said on TVN News that the alliance could not culminate successfully as Juan Carlos Varela is down or just does not have the favor of national electorate.
Castillo said that most PP delegates are not willing to ally with panameñismo  "and areas to be assigned to PP in that coalition have been poorly defined"
The declarations came a day after the PP national board approved the government's plan to lay the foundation for union with the PP ahead of the elections of 2014.