Panama News

Panama America - Balbina Herrera will officially launch her run for the Presidency of the Republic as a candidate for the "Partido Revolucionario Democratico" (PRD) on Thursday, 27 March 2008, near the Los Andes commercial center. Herrera announced her plans on the RPC Radio show, saying the event will start at 5:00 pm and predicting the attendance of prominent PRD party members as well as representatives from civil society. She added that after the event she will travel to the provinces of Coclé and Chiriquí where she will campaign with members of the PRD over the course of the next weekend. Her opponent in the PRD primary Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro said on RPC Radio that Herrera is welcomed to the race and that his only interest at the moment is to make a "fair campaign."
Editor's Comment: In now appears the PRD primary will be limited to a two-horse race between Panama's Housing Minister Balbina Herrera and Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro. No one else in the party has the position, political power, or will to challenge as a third candidate. The one exception might be Ernesto "El Toro" Balladares, but I think he finally got the message that his time has passed after having lost his bid for the Presidency of the PRD in the CEN elections two weeks ago.
Expecting A Good Fight: If the field will be limited to just two candidates then there will still be a good battle between them. The two are very different people in many ways. Juan Carlos Navarro has been the Mayor of Panama City for the past ten years and is seen as an accomplished and experienced executive administrator. Balbina Herrera has spent the past ten years as the Housing Minister on the Executive Cabinet of Martin Torrijos and has been a loyal foot soldier for the PRD since about the time she starting eating solid food. She has "floated up" through the PRD rank and file and remained loyal to the party even after Just Cause and the end of the military dictatorship of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega. The question is this - "Is she ready for prime time and the world stage?" Personally, I don't think so (but she could very well win anyway.)
Right vs. Left Wing: Juan Carlos Navarro is the more conservative of the two and most of this political positions and postures tend to be more along what we gringos would recognize as traditional or reflective of conservative values. Balbina Herrera is, without a doubt, much more to the "left wing" of the PRD party leadership and appeals more to the popular masses in Panama. Many of her political thoughts and positions on social issues are very progressive, which might make business leaders somewhat nervous. So we are left with a popular "leftist" leader on one hand and a "conservative" backed by business leaders on the other. There are many flavors in the 2008 version of the PRD, the largest political party in Panama which continues to grow, evolve, and attract people of all stripes. But politically speaking the two candidates in this primary are at the extremes of the two poles of the party. By contrast Martin Torrijos has been very much a "centrist" in his approach to political leadership. Basically, he can go both ways when necessary.
"Hey! What's That In The Closet?" No doubt about it, this primary race between Balbina and Juan Carlos will generate its fair share of headlines and at the very least I expect to see a good and energetic contest between them. What remains to be seen is exactly how "down and dirty" it will get. Balbina is perfectly capable of a very nasty political street-fight and if it comes down to that when the mud slinging is over she will mostly likely emerge victorious. On the other hand Juan Carlos Navarro is most likely hoping for (praying for) a "clean fight" because he knows he has real and significant weaknesses in potentially critical and crippling areas that could easily destroy his candidacy literally overnight should Balbina decide to pull the trigger. If she wants to "go negative" then she has a huge bag of ammo on her shoulder and its literally just a question of whether or not she decides to reach for those virtual RPG-7's or not. Let's see what happens.
Back to Basics: Balbina is returning to her San Miguelito roots with this event in Los Andes, and she's hoping Martin Torrijos will show up like he did when Juan Carlos Navarro officially started his campaign. If Torrijos snubs her and fails to attend this event (for whatever reason) then he will be signaling his tacit endorsement of her opposition. Balbina will be left to scrape together a grass roots effort which she can quite probably pull off, and as a matter of fact that's where she has always lived, politically speaking. It seems the big money is going to bet on Juan Carlos, but Balbina is more popular among regular old "Juan six-pack" Panamanians. Notice she's immediately heading off to the interior where she has excellent name recognition as the Housing Minister. She knows she can count on her home turf of San Miguelito but will leave the rest of Panama City to the Mayor where he's been administrating for the past ten years. And besides, much of Panama City is opposition territory anyway. Also in the interior Balbina can marginalize Juan Carlos as being too focused on Panama City, while as a member of his cabinet she can ride on Martin Torrijos' coat tails and all the work his administration has done in the interior (which is significant, historically speaking.) No matter what happens it should be a fun race to watch.
One More Thing: With the removal of Balbina Herrera as a potential candidate for the position of Mayor of Panama City, all of a sudden a lot of people who have been warming the bench have jumped up and started stretching their legs. Most likely winner (now) - Roberto Velasques Abood - currently the Director of the Panamanian National Civil Defense System (SINAPROC). I still don't see Bernal as having a chance - he's made a career out of being the perennial outsider and ankle-biter - basically anti-everybody. He should come in second or third even though he's gotten the earliest start. This race still has a long way to go and it's not clearly defined - too early to call and most of the people who will be taking a shot have not even declared their intentions yet.


Balbina Herrera oficializará su candidatura presidencial el próximo jueves


REDACCIÓNPA-DIGITAL


Balbina Herrera (en la foto) aspira a convertirse en la candidata del Partido Revolucionario Democrático a la Presidencia de la República de Panamá


La postulación oficial de la candidatura de Balbina Herrera a la presidencia de la República por el Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) se llevará a cabo el jueves 27 de marzo en los terrenos aledaños al Centro Comercial Los Andes.


Esto lo anunció la propia Herrera, en declaraciones emitidas a la emisora RPC Radio, donde destacó que el evento, previsto a iniciar a las cinco de la tarde, contará con la participación de integrantes del PRD y representantes de la sociedad civil.


Además indicó que luego de ese acto, se trasladará a las provincias de Coclé y Chiriquí donde llevará su propuesta a la membresía de ese colectivo político en el transcurso del próximo fin de semana.


Por su parte el también aspirante al solio presidencial por el PRD, Juan Carlos Navarro, manifestó también a RPC Radio que Herrera es bienvenida a la contienda en las elecciones primarias del partido, y que su único interés en este momento es realizar una "campaña de altura".

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