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Panama Questions Canal Yes
Although the Yes triumphed in
the referendum on the
enlargement of the Panama Canal,
the win poses Monday several
questions due to the high rate
of abstentionism and
denunciations of irregularities.
According to unofficial data
from the Electoral Court, with
96.29 percent of the tables
counted, 693,444 people, 78.6
percent, buttressed the
construction of three locks
while 194,903, 21.94 percent,
rejected it.
The official results will be
announced on Wednesday.
However, abstentionism hovered
around 60 percent, something
that politicians, activists and
social movement saw in different
ways.
For the National Front for the
Defense of Economic and Social
Rights (FRENADESO) the
abstentionism figure illustrates
rejection to the $5.2 billion
plan.
Its leaders rapped the
development of the plebiscite,
considering it a big fraud.
They denounced that promoters of
the canal widening project got
involved in voting centers in
complicity with some members of
the Electoral Court and Attorney
s office.
Among irregularities found in
the process, FRENADESO mentioned
the propaganda drives in favor
of the Yes, the use of vehicles
to transfer voters and the
delivery of money.
However, Electoral Court
officials minimized those
abnormalities although they
promised to investigate them.
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