Panama Polarized on
Torrijos’s Tenure
PANAMA - (Angus Reid
Global Monitor) -
Panamanians are almost
evenly divided on their
assessment of their
president’s performance,
according to a poll by
Dichter & Neira released
by TVN Noticias and
Panamá América. 49.8 per
cent of respondents
think Martín Torrijos
has done a good or
excellent job as head of
state so far, while 45.3
per cent think his work
has been bad or very
bad.
The positive rating of
Torrijos increased by
1.6 points since July,
while his negative
rating dropped by 4.6
points.
Torrijos—the son of Omar
Torrijos, an army
general who ruled Panama
from 1968 to 1981—won
the May 2004
presidential election as
a candidate for the
Revolutionary Democratic
Party (PRD) with 47.44
per cent of the vote.
In 1999, Panama regained
full control of the
Panama Canal, the source
of 10 per cent of the
country’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP). In
October 2006, Panamanian
voters supported the
canal’s $5.25 billion
U.S. expansion
plan—which would add a
parallel set of locks to
allow giant cargo ships
to pass through the
waterway—in a nationwide
referendum.
On Aug. 20, Panamanian
labour minister Luis
Pérez assured that the
Torrijos government has
created a greater number
of jobs that the
previous administration,
declaring, "The numbers
show that from September
1999 to June 2003, the
period of [former
president Mirella]
Moscoso, there were
419,560 new contracts
signed, while from
September 2004 to June
2008, the term of
Torrijos, there have
been 817,174 new
registered jobs."
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