PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Mireya Moscoso, the widow
                  of a popular leader, won elections Sunday to become the president
                  who will lead Panama when the United States cedes control of the
                  Panama Canal at the end of the year.

                  She beat Martin Torrijos, the son of military strongman Gen. Omar
                  Torrijos, who had helped depose Moscoso's late husband from the
                  presidency and went on to sign the 1977 Canal Treaties with the
                  United States.

                  Torrijos conceded defeat with 59.4 percent of ballots counted, showing
                  Moscoso with 44 percent of the vote to his 38 percent. Her lead grew as
                  new results came in.

                  A third candidate, banker Alberto Vallarino, who bolted Moscoso's party
                  after losing the nomination to her, held 17 percent of the vote.

                  "It is clear Mireya Moscoso has been chosen as president," Torrijos said. "I
                  congratulate her and wish her success in running the country."

                  Moscoso's supporters drove through Panama City's streets, honking and
                  waving her party's yellow, red and purple flags.

                  "It is a fabulous result. A woman who is dedicated to the people, in sync
                  with the people, has triumphed. She has won in a decisive manner,"
                  Guillermo Endara, the former Panamanian president who is from Moscoso's
                  Arnulfista Party, told The Associated Press.

                  Moscoso's late husband, Arnulfo Arias, was three times Panama's president
                  before his final term was cut short in 1968. He died in exile in 1988.

                  Despite their contrasting histories, there was little ideological difference
                  between Moscoso and Torrijos. Each had pledged to keep politics and
                  corruption from undermining administration of the canal and to slow the
                  privatization of state enterprises initiated by outgoing President Ernesto
                  Perez Balladares.

                  Voters had rejected Perez Ballardes' attempt last year to change
                  constitutional limits barring him from seeking a second consecutive five-year
                  term.

                  The 52-year-old Moscoso, a coffee company owner, will be the first
                  woman to lead the nation of 2.8 million. She had predicted voters who
                  resent Perez Balladares' free-market policies would reject his party
                  colleague, Torrijos.

                  "The people are anxious for a change from this government which has
                  forgotten that in Panama there are many poor people," Moscoso said after
                  voting at an elementary school in the lower-middle-class neighborhood
                  where she lives.

                  The presidential election is only the second since U.S. forces invaded
                  Panama to eject military strongman Manuel Noriega, who had canceled
                  1989 election results won by Endara. After the invasion, Endara took office.

                  Perez Balladares, one of the first to vote Sunday, said the election was
                  evidence that "democracy is gaining strength" in Panama, which separated
                  from Colombia in 1903.

                  Turnout appeared strong, although there were no immediate figures. There
                  were no reports of problems during voting Sunday.

                  Moscoso will take office on Sept. 1. She will preside over ceremonies at the
                  end of the year in which Panama accepts control of the Panama Canal, as
                  outlined by the treaties signed by Gen. Torrijos and then-U.S. President
                  Jimmy Carter.

                  An average 35 ships pass through the 85-year-old international shipping
                  route each day.

                  Under the accords, the United States also must withdraw the last of its
                  military forces -- which at their height after World War II numbered 67,000
                  -- and cede control of 40,000 acres surrounding the canal.

                  The canal and the U.S. military presence often were sources of conflict -- at
                  times violent -- in relations between Panama and the United States. For
                  Panamanians, the handover is a long-awaited reward in their struggle for full
                  sovereignty.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.