Ratification of Martín Torrijos as Presidential Candidate of the Popular Party

Former President Martín Torrijos Espino was ratified today as the presidential candidate of the opposition Popular Party (PP), for the general elections in May next year, through an Extraordinary National Congress, and said that he does not intend to return to the Presidency to leave the country as it is. ; that he will establish new rules of the game; and he called to form the Panama Possible Movement to govern with the best.

“Believe me; We are going to put an end to patronage and corruption that destroys society. I am not going back to let the country continue as it is; Panama is nobody’s business. Prey is over! There will be new rules for everyone where the one who does it pays!” Torrijos Espino said in an emotional speech.

He warned that in his future government there will be no space for the untouchables who move from government to government”, and reiterated what he has said in each meeting with different sectors of Panamanian society and the media: “we will govern with the best.”
He also reiterated that he will form a joint cabinet; a government team that is capable, honest and committed to the country, without looking at political affiliation, but rather at social justice and citizen participation.

“Next May 5, in just 293 days, the changes that Panama requires will begin. We will make the transformations that are needed, but that nobody has dared to do; we did it once and we will do it again”, said the political leader, who was president of this country in the five-year period 2004-2009.

He pointed out that the path of progress and hope will be resumed, where education and health are key to solving the unjust inequalities that the population faces, and that urgent challenges and tasks are urgent. In this sense, he listed the commitments that he has acquired and will fulfill in the field of health and public services such as water.

In economic matters, the PP presidential candidate said that new development poles will be created that provide employment in different regions of the country, to stop migration to the capital city, and with incentives for companies to establish themselves.

However, he clarified that he would not participate in the “contest of lies”, since a war of promises has been unleashed, and “the train is already going through Costa Rica, the subway looks like a spider web of lines, the roads will have to be built one on top of the other, they already promise more schools than students and more bridges than rivers.

“Our Candidacy is not just an electoral option of the Popular Party, it is much more than that; it is an open, broad movement; it is a social alliance of compatriots from all sectors, of youth and women, workers and businessmen, peasants and indigenous people, independents and members of other political parties,” insisted Torrijos Espino.

He affirmed that for this, an identity is required to organize and be part of a social alliance willing to fight to build the Panama that everyone wants. “I propose that from today we build the Panama Possible Movement”, as a commitment to the country and Panamanians.

The presidential candidate reiterated that in this election “the country is at stake; it will be the Possible Panama that arises with faith and optimism; it will be the victory of decency and hope.”

The now presidential candidate humorously welcomed the nickname “Picanto Party”, applied to the PP, for being a group with few activists, and said that mysticism and enthusiasm are more powerful than perks and clientelism, and that “it is not the size (alluding to the popular South Korean compact car)… is the reason and the desire”,
He also had words of praise for the deceased historical leader of that group, a former Christian Democrat, recalling that in 2004 both decided that the differences of the past “could not prevent us from facing together the great problems we were experiencing. Today I want to remember Dr. Ricardo Arias Calderón; an exceptional Panamanian, with deep democratic convictions and to whom Panama is indebted,” he said.

Torrijos Espino was ratified as a presidential candidate by 87% of the national delegates of the PP who voted.
In accordance with the statutes of the party and the Panamanian electoral legislation, the primary elections by conventions or national congresses in groups with less than 100,000 activists.