The mayor José Isabel Blandón prevailed in the Panamanian
Mayor Blandón promised to carry out a great administrative
revolution with the revision and modernization of the organic laws of many
institutions that, he assures, have become obsolete.
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| By: La Estrella de Panama |
The capital's mayor, José Isabel Blandón, who
has distanced himself from the government of the President of the Republic,
Juan Carlos Varela, was elected yesterday as the presidential candidate of the
official Panameñista Party for the 2019 general elections.
In the process of primary elections of this
political group, made yesterday, Blandón surpassed the former Minister of
Housing and Territorial Planning (Miviot) Mario Etchelecu, who was his closest
contender in the search for the presidential candidacy of this group. There
were ten participants in these elections.
At 6:09 in the afternoon, the mayor of the
capital received the official communication from the Electoral Tribunal (TE),
that he had been elected as the winner of these primaries in which a 49.1%
participation was registered.
Blandón obtained the victory with 56.74% of the
preferences (91,209 votes), while Etchelecu added 38.1% (61,380 votes) and Ada
Romero, who was in third place, achieved 1.3% support, 2083 votes.
After the triumph, Blandón expressed in his
speech that with this result a new stage begins and that he and the Panamanians
begin to write a story never before written in Panamanian politics.
'It is perhaps the first time in the history of
the Republic that a presidential candidate has been a deputy and mayor before;
It is the first time that the acting mayor of the capital district is the
presidential candidate. But that is not the only difference with this
candidacy, this aspiration does not arise from the bowels of the Creole
oligarchy, but is genuinely popular, championed by a professional of the middle
class, born inside the Republic, from the bosom of a humble family with no
surname of ancestry, "he said.
He added that it was time to end the practice of
using 'band-aid' and propose half solutions. "The country is not built on
solid foundations only with megaprojects, but, mainly, on public institutions
that have legitimacy and credibility."
CONSTITUENT
He announced that, if elected President of the
Republic, he will call a referendum in the first week of the government so that
it is the people who decide whether or not they want a new constituent.
Throughout this campaign, the candidate
indicated, will present concrete proposals explaining what and how it will be
done.
'The reform of the State will be one of my main
objectives, that includes the constitutional change. I think it's the most
democratic way to equip ourselves with a new constitution; a new constitution
to change the way to elect the deputies, to change the way to choose the
magistrates of the Court, to take power from the Executive, to strengthen local
governments, "he said.
He also committed to make a great administrative
revolution, the revision and modernization of the organic laws of many
institutions that have become obsolete.
He added that decentralization will be one of
his priorities and in that sense, he acknowledged to President Varela 'the
courage, the detachment from initiating this process of decentralization. With
me this process will not only continue, but it will deepen ",
CSS AND EDUCATION
The presidential standard-bearer of
Panamaniacism announced that it will face problems whose solutions are well
known, but that have been evaded for years, for fear of the so-called political
cost.
Among these, he mentioned the crisis of the
Social Security Fund (SSC), the high cost of medicines, the modernization of
education, the rescue of the agricultural sector, the clean-up of the
administration of justice.
PROPOSALS
Decentralization
If elected president, Blandón
promised to allocate an additional budget to local governments throughout the
country, starting in 2020, equivalent to 1% of the general budget of the State,
which currently means an additional $ 240 million for local governments.
"These are some issues on
which, the most important thing is to have the political will and the ability
to make the changes that these sectors require," he said.
He also stated that he looks
forward to the moment of the presidential debates. 'I hope and trust that there
is not a candidate who flee from these debates and I assure you something, I
will always do my homework, because they will not see me committing plagiarism
or repeating which papagallo what another political consultant wrote to a
candidate in another country'.
He informed that it will give
continuity to projects that have been positive and beneficial for the
population.
'What has been of benefit to the
people will continue; what presents good opportunities, will improve and what
has meant delays, will be eliminated, "he said.
In a message on Twitter,
President Varela praised the internal process of his party. 'Congratulations to
the @ Panameñistas for a strong, decent and fair campaign. I also congratulate
@BlandonJose for his official nomination and @MarioEtchelecu for a great
campaign, 'he said.
OTHER CHARGES
In other positions of popular
election that were in dispute in this internal struggle of Panamanianism, the
deputy Adolfo Valderrama won his candidacy for the Mayor of Panama.
The majority of Panamanian
deputies won their seats to elect re-election in their posts, except Gabriel
'Panky' Soto, of the circuit 8-1, in Arraiján, who was outbid by the former
director of the Institute for Training and Achievement of Human Resources
(Ifarhu), Yessenia Rodríguez.
In this circuit, Panamanianism
reserved two positions of the three seats available for this constituency.
While for the mayor of La
Chorrera, Panamanianism will lead as its standard bearer to the ex-deputy
Alberto Barranco.
