Panama sets general election in 2019

Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela announced a plan to kick-start a series of popular consultations on constitutional changes ahead of next year’s vote.

About 2.7 million voters will elect a replacement for President Juan Carlos Varela. Besides, voters are also set to choose lawmakers and mayors for five-year terms.

Panama elects on the national level a head of state, the President and a legislature. The President and the Vice President are elected on one ballot for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly has 71 members, elected for five-year terms in single-seat and multi-seat constituencies.

Of the 71 members of the National Assembly, 26 were elected in single-member constituencies and 45 by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. 

The country in Central America has a multi-party system with numerous parties, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments./.