Panama Has a ‘Virtual’ President-Elect as Cortizo Leads Count
- Texas-educated Cortizo tapped voter anger in close contest
- Economy was Latin America’s top performer but recently cooled
Laurentino Cortizo speaks during a campaign rally, in Panama City.
Photographer: Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images
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Texas-educated businessman Laurentino Cortizo will almost certainly be Panama’s next president, after winning a contested vote count, the electoral authority said.
Cortizo is the “virtual victor” of the election, after winning the preliminary vote count by a narrow margin, the authority said in a post on Twitter. The final official results are scheduled to be published Thursday. Cortizo’s opponent Romulo Roux alleged irregularities in the way some votes were annulled, and refused to concede until all the ballots have been counted.