elections

Herrera, Martinelli top polls

According to a survey commissioned by La Prensa, a quarter of Panamanian voters have not decided whom to support for president.

The survey, conducted between April 11 and 13, showed that Balbina Herrera, of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), and Ricardo Martinelli, of the Cambio Democrático party, are the two most popular candidates, with 25 percent and 20 percent support respectively.

This represents a flip-flop from an earlier poll, when Martinelli was the most popular candidate.

PRD candidate Juan Carlos Navarro is third, with 13 percent support. The survey showed that, among likely PRD voters, Herrera had the support of 63 percent of those asked, compared to 32 percent support for Navarro.

Guillermo Endara, of the Vanguardia Moral de la Patria party, and Panameñistas Alberto Vallarino and Juan Carlos Varela all had support in the single digits among those surveyed.

Among the people surveyed who identified themselves as supporters of one of the opposition parties, about half said they would vote for Martinelli, while Vallarino and Varela both had about 20 percent support. Endara lagged badly behind the field, with less than 5 percent support.

While the opposition parties have discussed supporting a single candidate in order to defeat the ruling PRD, a consensus has not yet been reached among them about which candidate to back.

Polls, however, show that Martinelli is clearly the most popular opposition candidate at this point.