Crisis of Political Parties in Panama

The veteran Panameñista leader, Jorge Gamboa Arosemena, believes that both Juan Carlos Varela and Mireya Moscoso, who control the factions agitating within the Arnulfo Arias Madrid party, have been responsible for the crisis it faces today, having been out of power for two terms. He recommended that both political factions focus on training their young people so that they can become much more involved in politics. «Without a generational change that invites thinking about honesty, capacity, and ethics for 2029.» In the opinion of the doctor and commentator, Xavier Sáez Llorens, Panama does not have a decent political future with the same nefarious characters always leading the PRD and Panameñista parties. He is also concerned about politicians involved in legal problems who were not convicted for a special reason but suffered public admonishment, without naming names. Both parties must hold their ordinary congresses within two years, by which time it is expected they will have a clear direction on their course of action for the 2029 elections. The political expert, Juan McKay, said that while the defeats suffered by both collectives in 2024 should serve as a lesson, it is striking to him that among their leaders there is not a proportional number of young people. The transitional renewal processes of the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) and the Panameñista party provided an opportunity to start this path, however, they did not give signs of new beginnings for both collectives, mired in a crisis of lack of leadership and credibility. In the case of the Panameñista party, the analyst doubts how much time and organization the current president of the Assembly will have to be able to reconstitute the party while administering the Legislature and fulfilling his role as a deputy. «There must be repentance from all who buried Panameñism and the other parties must recognize their errors. All are guilty of the crisis the country is in,» he expressed. «Small country, big hell,» he wrote on his social networks. He proposes that Balbina Herrera has had an important trajectory in the renewal processes that the PRD has had before, but she would have done better if she had been accompanied by more young people. The 2025 political calendar concludes on December 13, when the Popular party, which had a presidential candidate in 2024, will renew its government structure at an ordinary convention. There are six candidates to lead it, including its current president, Daniel Brea. «It leaves much to be desired,» McKay stated.