For next May’s general elections in Panama, 84.1 percent of voters distrust the future National Assembly (AN, parliament), transcended today.
According to a report by the pollster Marketing Planificado, published by the newspaper La Prensa, the percentage of rejection of the legislature grows in the age range of between 26 and 35 years, since 88.4 percent of those consulted in that group have little or no confidence in that state body.
Among the provinces in which mistrust predominates in the AN stand out Coclé, Los Santos and Panama Oeste.
On the other hand, the results of the sample indicate that a large part of the younger electorate would support with their vote awning candidates Realizing Goals and Alliance; the independents and the aspirants of the ruling Revolutionary Democratic Party, in that order.
While among voters over 50, 25.4 percent of respondents said they don’t yet know who they will vote for.
The Panamanian legislature has been much questioned mainly in 2023 for issues such as its large staff and budget; in addition to the way the deputies approved the contract between the State and Minera Panama, which then under pressure from popular protests, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.
More than three million Panamanians are authorized on May 5 to decide with their vote in the polls the new president and vice president of the country, 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament and 71 deputies to the National Assembly.
With the vote, they will also elect 81 mayors, 701 district representatives and 11 councillors, all with their respective alternates, for the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in El Pais