The opposition presidential candidate Rómulo Roux called on Panamanians this Wednesday at a campaign closing event to vote in the May 5 elections to change the Constitution and dismantle the political system “that shields corruption.”
On Sunday, “we are going to vote for a change to the Constitution to dismantle the political system that shields corruption and impunity,” said the center-right Roux before hundreds of supporters at a rally held in Santiago de Veraguas, about 250 kilometers southwest of Panama City.
“We are going to put an end to corrupt politics forever,” he added. Roux, 59, is one of eight presidential candidates for these elections, which are decided in a single round and by simple majority.
The right-wing José Raúl Mulino leads the polls with between 25% and 30% of the voting intention, twice as much as his immediate followers: the social-democratic former president Martín Torrijos (2004-2009) and the center-right lawyers Ricardo Lombana and Roux.
Roux was foreign minister and minister of the Panama Canal under President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), who was disqualified from running in these elections after being sentenced to almost eleven years in prison for money laundering.
However, after the scandals, Roux has distanced himself from his former boss, who is currently taking refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy to avoid going to prison.
“This is a crucial election, and we are going to choose between two options: either we continue as we are with the same corrupt little group that steals the money (…) and lives off the political system, or we vote for real change,” Roux said.
“In just four days, this government nightmare will be over,” he added. Roux, who is running as a candidate for his Democratic Change party, in coalition with the traditional Panameñista Party, has promised to change the Constitution to reform the State.
He has also proposed creating half a million jobs, raising the minimum pension to 350 dollars per month, reviving the economy, an austerity plan, and building a railroad from the capital to the western province of Chiriquí, bordering Costa Rica.
Roux came in second place in the 2019 elections, narrowly losing to the current president, the social democrat Laurentino Cortizo.
