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		</div><p>Panama’s Electoral Court has declared opposition candidate Laurentino Cortizo the “virtual winner” in the country’s tight presidential election.</p>
<p>The vote followed a campaign focused on corruption and slowing economic growth in the Central America trade and financial hub, and turned into the tightest presidential contest in recent years.</p>
<p>After scrutinising the results from 92% of polling stations, electoral court magistrate Heriberto Arauz said in a televised announcement shortly before midnight on Sunday that Mr Cortizo had a narrow lead of two percentage points over businessman Romulo Roux..</p>
<p>The unexpectedly close race pitted the candidates of the country’s two most important opposition political forces against each other.</p>
<p>Mr Cortizo, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, had 33% of the votes versus 31% for Mr Roux, from former president Ricardo Martinelli’s Democratic Change party. Mr Arauz said the voting trend remained stable as results were declared.</p>
<p>After announcing the results, Mr Arauz phoned Mr Cortizo, who was waiting at a campaign point with his wife Yazmín and supporters.</p>
<p>“You are the virtual winner of the elections for the next five years,” he told him.</p>
<p>Mr Cortizo replied: “With humility I receive the announcement, which is important for the country. An announcement of great responsibility.”.</p>
<p>Before the magistrate’s announcement, Mr Roux vowed not to concede defeat, saying the results were too close and suggesting that the race was marred by irregularities.</p>
<p>“We have to guarantee the protection of the electoral process and of democracy. Right now, it’s in doubt,” he said, without providing any evidence of election tampering.</p>
<p>The PRD, which has social democratic leanings, will return to power for the third time since the transition to democracy three decades ago, after the end of the military regime.</p>
<p>The last time it was in power was from 2004 to 2009 during the administration of Martín Torrijos.</p>
<p>There is no run-off in Panama, so the person who gets the most votes in the field of seven mostly business-friendly candidates wins outright and takes office from July 1 for a five-year term.</p>
<p>The election followed revelations of money laundering in the so-called Panama Papers which damaged the country’s reputation on the world stage.</p>
<p>The trove of secret financial documents showed how some of the world’s richest people hid their money using shell companies in Panama and other countries.</p>
<p>Despite the scandal, Panama remains a strategic location for commerce, anchored by the heavily trafficked Panama Canal shipping route and a recently expanded international airport.</p>
<p>Mr Cortizo, a 66-year-old who studied business administration in the US, was agriculture minister under Mr Torrijos and campaigned on vows to clean up Panama’s image after the corruption scandals.</p>
<p>“For Panamanians, as well as many other Latin Americans these days, corruption trumps all other issues, even inequality,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue.</p>
<p>“In country after country in the region, people are just fed up and are demanding a real change.”</p>
<p>Mr Roux, a 54-year-old businessman, had the endorsement of supermarket magnate and former president Ricardo Martinelli, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of political espionage.</p>
<p>Mr Roux held multiple government posts during the Martinelli administration, including minister of canal affairs and foreign minister.</p>
<p>Mr Roux highlighted during his campaign that Panama’s economy grew only 3.8% last year, compared with a 10.7% expansion in 2012, when Mr Martinelli was president. But Mr Roux’s association with Mr Martinelli appeared to have hurt his bid for the presidency, said Mr Shifter.</p>
<p>The top three was rounded out by an independent candidate who got on the ballot by collecting thousands of signatures. Ricardo Lombana, 45, is a lawyer who gained prominence via a citizen’s movement several years ago that questioned impunity and corruption in the country. He had nearly 20% of the vote.</p>
<p>Mr Lombana’s campaign focused on drumming up support via social media, rather than through the costly television spots favoured by candidates from Panama’s three main political parties.</p>
<p>Turnout was strong at 72% for Panama’s sixth presidential election since a US invasion ousted strongman Manuel Noriega in 1989.</p>
<p>Panamanian voters were also concerned about rising unemployment, public schools in decline, unreliable water service and insufficient rubbish collection in the capital.</p>
<p>Outgoing president Juan Carlos Varela, a 55-year-old conservative and liquor industry veteran, was barred by the constitution from running.</p>
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