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Presidential
Race
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Supermarket Tycoon
Leads Panama Presidential
Race
Panama - A month
before Panama's presidential election,
supermarket tycoon Ricardo Martinelli
maintained a comfortable lead over the
ruling party contender, according to a
survey released on Thursday.
Pollster Ipsos put Martinelli 11 points
ahead of Balbina Herrera, the Revolutionary
Democratic Party candidate, whose support
has waned amid allegations of shady campaign
financing and voters' discontent over crime
and inflation.
According to Ipsos, Martinelli's lead was
narrower -- 6 points less -- than in similar
polls conducted in February and March.
But Ipsos project director, Adriana Mora,
told Reuters the difference was not a big
change in trend and may have been influenced
by the inclusion of voters in
difficult-to-reach rural areas, which had
been excluded in previous surveys.
Former president Guillermo Endara was a
distant third ahead of the May 3 election.
Martinelli, the Democratic Change Party
candidate, has promised massive
infrastructure spending to help Panama
weather the global economic crisis.
The Central American country's economy grew
by more than 7 percent each year between
2004 and 2008, driven by booming U.S.-Asia
trade through the Panama Canal and
construction.
The economy has been among the strongest in
Latin America in recent years, but growth
slowed drastically in the last few months
due to a fall in international trade.
The Ipsos survey of 1,082 adults was
conducted between March 28 and 31 and had a
margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
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