Panama's Election Seals A Strong Free Market Orientation

Investors Business Daily ^ | 05/06/2014 | Editorial

[expat_panama]

Latin America: Defying polls, conservative Juan Carlos Varela won Panama's election Sunday, showing that five years of free-market policies merit another five. If he holds course, it's the best possible outcome.

Nobody thought the openly conservative Juan Carlos Varela could pull off a five-year term in Panama. The former vice president had been been running third in the polls and faced the negative headwinds of Ricardo Martinelli's five-year conservative rule. It especially didn't help that Panama's incumbent parties almost always do poorly in successive votes.

But Varela, who is believed to be at least as conservative as his predecessor, managed to distinguish himself from the status quo.

He did so by breaking with Martinelli in 2011 over the latter's ill-conceived plan to extend his own stay in office, compounded by a ridiculous and probably unconstitutional move to place his wife, Marta Linares, on the ticket of his hand-picked candidate, Jose Domingo Arias, as vice president.

Net effect: Varela was able to run as an anti-corruption outsider, a better thing for Panama to focus on than a populist referendum on free-market ideas that is often badly argued, despite Panama's 8.2% average growth rate over the past decade.

The left-wing candidate, former Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro, garnered just 28% of the vote. Varela won with 39%.

It's a resounding vote for continuing the free-market policies that have opened Panama to the world with free trade, put the nation in the global trade spotlight with its multibillion-dollar expansion and ensured the country's economic shift from shipping to banking, services, medical tourism and new entrepreneurship. And it may just open the door to improving Panama's governance as well, if Varela is truly anti-corruption.

The election not only seals Panama's free market orientation, it also leaves Panama with two competing conservative parties, something similar to the Tea Party and...

[Mase]

Yeah, I usually remain domestic, but two stocks jumped out at me as having a lot of upside. I bought PBR at the bottom and have enjoyed some nice returns over the past couple of months. I should just get out now, but I think there is a lot more upside should Rousseff get the boot in October. I also loaded up on VALE, because they are beaten up as well and the demand for iron ore isn't going away. I'll be more patient with that one.