Opposition Candidate Bosco Vallarino Now Leading PRD's Bobby Velásquez By 4% in Polls
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - Yesterday TVN Channel 2 together with the polling company Dichter & Neira released what appears to be their last official polling results, now just nine days before the actual elections on 3 May 2009. The most interesting race has been that for the position of Mayor of Panama City, primarily between the PRD candidate Roberto "Bobby" Velásquez and the "Alliance for Change" candidate Bosco Vallarino. Both have have been dealing with their respective scandals - Bosco over his dual US-Panamanian citizenship and Bobby over an alleged $6 million dollar campaign donation called an "investment" supposedly made by jailed and accused money launderer Colombian David Murcia. The polling results released yesterday indicates opposition candidate Bosco Vallarino is now pulling 41% and is leading Bobby Velásquez in the polls for the first time. Velásquez is now pulling just 37% support, down from more than 50% a few months ago, thanks in no small part to the Murcia scandal. Velásquez is now in "Balbina territory" meaning he will apparently receive support at the polls only from those hard-core, fanatical, dyed-in-the-wool PRD supporters who will vote for the party's candidate, no matter what he or she might have done to deserve otherwise. Oh yeah, and as a side note Miguel Antonio Bernal, the "also ran" candidate, dropped from 17% to 14%, and he still has his standard "snowballs chance in hell" of winning this race.
Copyright 2009 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.
