What happened
José Raúl Mulino, a last-minute stand-in for barred former President Ricardo Martinelli, won Panama's presidency Sunday. Mulino, 64, was Martinelli's running mate before the former president was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison. He has been campaigning for Mulino from inside the Nicaraguan Embassy, where he was granted asylum. Mulino's 35% put him 9 percentage points ahead of his main challengers, all of whom conceded Sunday night.
Who said what
When Martinelli "invited me to be vice president, I never imagined this," Mulino told supporters. It is "a very bizarre situation, unprecedented" not just in Panama "but any other Latin American country that I can think of," Michael Shifter at Inter-American Dialogue said to The Associated Press. It's still unclear whether Mulino will be "Martinelli's puppet" or chart his own path, he added.
What next?
With Panama's crippling drought, slowed economic growth and endemic corruption, "this next president will have to be a masochist president," Daniel Zovatto, a global fellow at the Wilson Center, said to The New York Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Nadine Menendez gets 4.5 years in bribery caseSpeed Read Menendez's husband was previously sentenced to 11 years in prison
-
Koreans detained in US Hyundai raid return homeSpeed Read Over 300 Koreans were detained at the plant last week
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for coup attemptSpeed Read Bolsonaro was convicted of attempting to stay in power following his 2022 election loss
-
Former top FBI agents sue, claiming Trump purgeSpeed Read The agents alleged they were targeted by a “campaign of retribution”
-
Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk shot dead at 31Speed Read Kirk was holding a debate session at Utah Valley University
-
Judge lets Cook stay at Fed while appealing ousterSpeed Read Trump had attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud
-
'Is it OK to be happy when the world is falling apart?'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump and Modi: the end of a beautiful friendship?In the Spotlight Harsh US tariffs designed to wrest concessions from Delhi have been condemned as 'a new form of imperialism'
