This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PANAMA 000936 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN/BRIGHAM and USOAS/SNEFF 
 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL PM POL SPECIALIST
SUBJECT: Observers, a non-debate, more polls, and some 
caravans. Panama Election Countdown #12: 1 Week to go. 
 
Ref: A. Panama 0896 
     ¶B. Panama 0892 
     ¶C. Panama 0886 
 
 
Summary/Comment: Activity up. Still no problems 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶1. (SBU) As campaigning hits a feverish pace, candidates 
Torrijos and Endara decided to skip the final, April 20 
debate.  Two final public opinion polls with conflicting 
results have generated controversy, as has another group of 
Endara supporters who made their support publicly known. 
The Electoral Tribunal (ET) announced that it has completed 
85% of the necessary preparations for the May 2 elections. 
At the same time, observers are making the final 
arrangements for their May 2 assignments.  Amid the 
blistering array of activity, Embassy has yet to note any 
elements of significant concern.  Emboffs will cover final 
campaign events this weekend and next week. 
 
 
Election Day preparations 85% complete 
-------------------------------------- 
¶2.  (U) The Electoral Tribunal announced that they have 
completed 85% of the necessary preparations for the May 2 
General Elections.  Twenty-seven electoral committees have 
carried out their assigned tasks, detailed in the General 
Election Plan.  Those tasks have included arranging 
transportation for voting materials and officials, training 
volunteer electoral officials to administer voting and 
vote-counting, establishing a nationwide communications 
network to transmit voting results, and informing voters 
how to register and how to vote. 
 
 
Observers preparing & arriving 
------------------------------ 
¶3.  (SBU) International and domestic observers are 
preparing for their May 2 role.  During a two-day program 
funded by the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights, 
the Electoral Tribunal trained observers from Panama's 
Ombudsman's Office on electoral processes in Panama and 
other related issues.  Embassy's 28 volunteer observers 
gathered for a group training and orientation session on 
Friday 4/23.  Also, three representatives from the Japanese 
Embassy will observe Panama's elections.  Finally, team 
leaders of the OAS observer mission arrived in Panama on 
Wednesday, 4/21.  The rest of the 30-member delegation 
arrives next week.  Ambassador Watt will meet with OAS 
representatives on Tuesday 4/27. 
 
 
Torrijos and Endara skip national debate 
---------------------------------------- 
¶4.  (SBU) When the two leading candidates declined at the 
last minute to participate in a highly anticipated April 20 
national debate, only the three smallest TV networks 
(Catholic Church, Evangelical Church and the state-owned TV 
channel) covered it.  Evidently fearing the last debate 
could dent his frontrunner status, PRD-PP candidate and 
poll leader Martin Torrijos announced his decision on April 
¶19.  His campaign coordinator said he withdrew to avoid 
unfair attacks from the other candidates as in the previous 
debate.  For instance, Arnulfista candidate Jose Miguel 
Aleman "reminded" Torrijos of a controversial presidential 
pardon he co-signed while briefly acting as Government and 
Justice Vice Minister during the Perez Balladares 
administration, and of extensive PRD embezzlement from the 
Social Security Fund during the military dictatorship. 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The other candidates reacted quickly to Torrijos' 
move. Endara, second in all polls, followed Torrijos' lead 
and added that he "did not want to waste his time" with the 
remaining two candidates.  Endara made fun of Torrijos' 
"weaknesses" and called him a "crybaby" (lloron).  Endara 
said there was no use debating with the other two 
candidates since "they have no chance to win."  Arnulfista 
candidate Jose Miguel Aleman said Torrijos' position was 
disrespectful to voters.  Aleman continued that he would 
honor his commitment to the Panamanian people and 
participate in the debate.  CD Martinelli remarked that 
Torrijos "couldn't care less" ("no le importa tres 
pepinos") about the people and suggested that if Torrijos 
had backed out in such a manner from a "cock fighting pit" 
("gallera") he would have been "stabbed" ("acuchillado"). 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Sources indicated that the Arnulfistas might have 
been planning during the April 20 debate to "break" the 
story of a 1985 drug-related kidnapping to which Torrijos' 
opponents have tried to link him.  (Note: The story finally 
did break on April 22 and will be reported Septel.  For 
background, see reftel A.  End Note.)  While civil society 
leaders criticized Endara and Torrijos for not living up to 
their pledge to participate, media across the board only 
justified Torrijos' absence.  The Arnulfistas then held a 
press conference (which no TV channel broadcast) accusing 
Torrijos of "being afraid of his past."  For the second 
time, Arnulfistas distributed CDs containing copies of 
Public Ministry records on the case to press 
representatives.  Except for the Catholic Church Channel's 
news (which barely mentioned the case) no other media 
reported the story. 
 
 
The final polls 
--------------- 
¶7.  (U) Two polls were published this week with very 
different results.  La Prensa's Ditcher & Neira poll 
continues to show PRD-PP candidate Martn Torrijos well in 
the lead at 47%, followed by Solidarity candidate Guillermo 
Endara at 28%, each one point down from the week before. 
Arnulfista candidate Jose Miguel Aleman, a distant third at 
19%, was the only candidate whose popularity increased 
since the last month (16%).  Fourth place Cambio 
Democratico (CD) candidate Ricardo Martinelli ended up at 
6%, also losing a point.  In a paid advertising insert in 
Panama dailies, the Arnulfistas published the first and 
only poll that showed their candidate, Jose Miguel Aleman, 
winning.  That poll shows Aleman winning with 39.7% of the 
vote, followed by Torrijos at 38.1%, Guillermo Endara at 
14.3%, and CD Ricardo Martinelli at 3.5%.  Electoral 
Prosecutor Gerardo Solis opened an investigation into this 
poll because Electoral Tribunal regulations requiring that 
polling methodology are certified before results are 
published.  The dailies that published the poll could each 
be fined up to $25,000. 
 
 
¶8.  (U) As stipulated in Panama's electoral law, Thursday, 
April 22 was the deadline for publishing public opinion 
polls.  The measure is intended to prevent candidates from 
using doctored polls to influence voters.  The Electoral 
Tribunal is looking to strengthen the democratic system by 
encouraging Panamanians to cast informed votes rather than 
just voting for the frontrunner, or the number two if the 
frontrunner is unattractive.  Anyone publishing polls after 
April 22 will be fined. 
 
 
Aleman and Endara stage caravans 
-------------------------------- 
¶9.  (U) On Sunday, April 18, Arnufista candidate Jose 
Miguel Aleman and his coalition allies staged a caravan 
along key avenues of Panama City.  The caravan, with 
approximately 14,000 vehicles, surpassed Aleman's own 
estimate of possibly 7,000 cars.  No serious incidents were 
reported despite the fact that the caravan passed Endara 
and Torrijos supporters.  The Endara supporters were 
actively campaigning for their candidates along part of the 
Arnulfistas' route.  Followers of Martin Torrijos actually 
came out of their residences with PRD-PP paraphernalia to 
taunt those participating in the caravan. 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Solidarity candidate Guillermo Endara decided 
not to hold a large public gathering to top off his 
campaign, opting instead for a six-day caravan through 29 
communities from the Western province of Chiriqui on the 
Pacific coast to the Atlantic province of Colon.  The 
caravan began with a poor turnout on April 22 in Puerto 
Armuelles, Chiriqui.  Endara team sources in Chiriqui 
recently told PolOff, "we've got no chance in Puerto 
Armuelles."  One of Solidarity's legislative candidates, 
Mayra Fuentes, was an active PRD member until the PRD's 
alliance with the Partido Popular (PP) frustrated her bid 
for a legislative candidacy, prompting her to defect to 
Endara's camp.  Fuentes had also backed recently ousted and 
thoroughly disliked labor leader Jose Morris in a bitter 
dispute over control of the region's banana production. 
 
 
Rift in MOLIRENA 
---------------- 
¶11.  (U) The National Liberal Republican Movement 
(MOLIRENA) is considering expelling five party members who 
have expressed public support for Solidarity Party 
presidential candidate Guillermo Endara instead of 
MOLIRENA's "official" candidate, Jose Miguel Aleman. 
(Party by-laws allow expulsion of those who disobey Party 
guidance.)  The members to be expelled are Raymundo Hurtado 
Lay, a former legislator and until recently Panama's 
Ambassador to Paraguay; Gisela Chung, a former legislator 
and until recently Panama's diplomatic representative to 
the People's Republic of China; Plutarco Arrocha, former 
Governor of Panama Province and former Consul General in 
Vietnam; Luis B. Rosas, a former Deputy Comptroller General 
and Marilyn Vallarino, sister of Panama's current Vice 
President, Arturo Vallarino.  Hurtado, Chung, Arrocha and 
Rosas all served their first public offices under President 
Guillermo Endara (1989-1994).  COMMENT: When Guillermo 
"Billy" Ford joined the Endara Team, his departure from 
MOLIRENA accentuated an existing division in the party. 
The five siding with Endara show Ford's continued pull 
within MOLIRENA, as well as the "defectors'" support for 
Endara. 
 
 
WATT