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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000362 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA:  PRD POSTPONES INTERNAL ELECTIONS 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR WILLIAM A. EATON.  REASON:  1.4 (D) 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C) The Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) would 
postpone its internal elections until January 2008 and its 
presidential primary until October 2008, Panamanian First VP 
and FM Samuel Lewis told the Ambassador on March 6.  Lewis 
asserted that this postponement would allow President Martin 
Torrijos' administration to get important work done before 
entering campaign mode.  Clearly, Lewis is the biggest 
beneficiary of this postponement, a fact that was not lost on 
leading PRD "pre-candidates" former President Ernesto "El 
Toro" Perez Balladares and current Panama City Mayor Juan 
Carlos Navarro.  Lewis remains Torrijos preferred successor, 
as most recently evidenced by First Lady Vivian de Torrijos 
characterization that Lewis would be a "fabulous" 
presidential candidate.  By delaying PRD's political 
schedule, Torrijos has bought Lewis time and political space 
to improve his standing and to get his polling numbers out of 
the basement.  While Perez Balladares blasted the decision as 
an example of Torrijos "undemocratic" management of the PRD, 
Navarro chose instead to laud Torrijos' leadership and to 
question Perez Balladares' standing to make such criticisms. 
While his efforts to secure the PRD's presidential nomination 
are also complicated by this development, Navarro already has 
strong poll numbers, needs Torrijos to block Perez 
Balladares, and hopes ultimately to win over Torrijos and 
secure his endorsement.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Torrijos to Postpone PRD's Internal Elections 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)  "We will start our internal election process in 
January 2008," Panamanian First VP and FM Samuel Lewis told 
the Ambassador on March 6, referring to the calendar to elect 
new leaders for the governing Revolutionary Democratic Party 
(PRD).  The PRD primaries for the May 2008 elections, Lewis 
added, would be held in October 2008.  (Note:  As Secretary 
General of the PRD, President Torrijos controls the PRD's 
machinery, sets its agenda, and determines its schedule.) 
"Those PRD members who are inside the government understand 
that we have a lot of tough, and at times unpopular, 
decisions to make and implement.  We have a lot of things to 
get done before we go into campaign mode."  Those PRD members 
who were outside the Administration (most pointedly meaning, 
without mentioning, Perez Balladares) instead wished to move 
up schedule of internal party elections so as to open the 
PRD's campaign season, Lewis explained. 
 
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El Toro Blasts "PRD leaderships dictatorial methods" 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The current leadership of the PRD (read:  Torrijos), 
is not managing the party in a democratic fashion, Perez 
Balladares blasted in March 8 radio interviews.  For example 
in one interview, he stated, "We (the PRD) are going back to 
the days following the death of General Torrijos, days in 
which there was a lack of internal (party) democracy, we 
heeded the pointed finger, we followed of the party line." 
Perez Balladares added that he did not care who ran against 
him for the Presidency of the PRD National Executive 
Committee (CEN), whether it was Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos 
Navarro or Minister of Housing Balbina Herrera.  Asked about 
Panamanian First Lady Vivian de Torrijos' comment in an 
interview published March 3 in La Prensa that Lewis would 
make a "fabulous" presidential candidate, Perez Balladares 
dismissively commented, "Fabulous comes from the word fable, 
and, for me, a fable is a story, a candidate from a dream." 
 
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Navarro Takes Swipe at El Toro 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) Perez Balladares was in no position to question 
Torrijos' management of the PRD, Navarro said in separate 
radio interviews.  "Torrijos has managed the PRD with 
humility, generosity and democracy," Navarro said.  Also a 
declared candidate for the presidency of the PRD CEN, Navarro 
stated, "I think that Perez Balladares' statements are best 
understood in the context of his political campaign to 
attempt to return to the leadership of the PRD." 
 
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Comment 
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¶4.  (C)  Lewis, who rarely discusses internal PRD politics, 
was giddy with the news that the PRD's internal elections and 
subsequent primary would be postponed and could not hold back 
from sharing the news with the Ambassador.  While he is 
likely to remain at the MFA in the near-term, Lewis -- whose 
poll numbers are abysmal -- will need to step down at some 
point to start the kind of hard political work with the PRD's 
bases in which Perez Balladares and Navarro have been engaged 
for several months.  Herrera is Torrijos' candidate to be 
president of the PRD and to be the next mayor of Panama City, 
something that incumbent Navarro also actively promotes.  By 
putting Herrera forward as his candidate for PRD president, 
Torrijos hopes to knock Perez Balladares off his stride and 
remove one obstacle in Lewis' path to succeed Torrijos. 
Denied the PRD presidency, Perez Balladares would need to 
consider seriously leaving the PRD to run as a maverick 
presidential candidate, something difficult for any life-long 
PRD member to contemplate and even more difficult to sell to 
PRD rank and file, a skeptical opposition, and the majority 
of Panamanians that are not members of any party.  Navarro 
will have additional time to try to win over Torrijos.  To 
date, we have seen no indication, contrary to Navarro's 
assertions,  that Navarro will be Torrijos' preferred 
candidate.  The First Lady's interview underscored Torrijos 
preference for Lewis. 
Eaton