politics

Torrijos to face 4 opponents in PRD race

The country’s president faces opposition from political newcomers in his bid for a CEN position.

LA PRENSA

candidate:Geovani Solís is one of the opponents squaring off against President Martín Torrijos.992960

President Martín Torrijos can't run for re-election next year, but that doesn't mean he is satisfied with being a lame duck.

Torrijos is planning on keeping a high profile in the national government as secretaría general of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), a position to which he is currently seeking election. The post is one of five on the party's Comité Ejecutivo Nacional (CEN), the body that determines the party's presidential candidate.

Torrijos faces four opponents in an election Sunday. The voters are all PRD delegates picked during the recent national election.

Torrijos has been heavily criticized of late for his handling of protests by construction workers and other domestic issues. Some hold him responsible for the U.S.'s refusal to sign a free trade agreement between the two countries.

Nevertheless, the President faces only a batch of political neophytes and relative newcomers in his bid to become the CEN's next secretaría general.

Geovani Solís, a restaurant manager, has been politically active for only about three years. Olga Cárdenas in known mainly in El Chorrillo, where she has fought for women's rights. Alex Jaén, left his job as an English professor at the Universidad de Panama (UP) primarily just to serve as a counterweight to Torrijos, who he has harshly criticized. Jhonny de Gracia has no real aspirations to hold public office, but feels compelled to call for a return to Torrojista principles.

Cárdenas and de Gracia support former President Ernesto Pérez Ballarades in his bid for the presidency of the PRD.

Ballarades is being opposed by Balbina Herrera, the government’s ministra de Vivienda. She is running with Torrijos.

Polls show that she has a wide lead over Ballarades.