By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service

PANAMA CITY, May 2 -- Martin Torrijos, the charismatic U.S.-educated son of a former military ruler, on Sunday won the first presidential election here since the United States handed over control of the Panama Canal.

With half the vote counted, Torrijos was winning by such a huge margin that his rivals conceded. Torrijos, 40, drew broad support from the young, many of whom took to the streets honking car horns and cheering when he went on national television to accept what he called his "clear mandate." He said the country must unite to fight "poverty, corruption and despair."

His victory is seen as a rebuke of the current administration of Mireya Moscoso, denounced for its many embarrassing scandals, including the discovery that one of Moscoso's top aides was keeping tens of thousands of dollars in her freezer.

Torrijos is the son of Gen. Omar Torrijos, the military leader who negotiated the treaty that brought the U.S.-built canal under Panama's control four years ago. The new president will take office as there are plans to expand the busy waterway. If the expansion goes ahead, it would be the most significant construction project here since the ocean-to-ocean passage was opened in 1914.

"The general," as the elder Torrijos is known, ran Panama from 1968 until he was killed in a plane crash in 1981. Martin Torrijos was born out of wedlock and largely raised by his mother, a circumstance that he used to good effect in the campaign.

The Texas A&M University graduate also campaigned as a democratic reformer, rejecting the authoritarian military style of his father. At the same time, Torrijos basked in the public's fond memories of the general, seen as a leader who improved life for the masses. "He was an extraordinary man," Torrijos told reporters after he visited his father's tomb Sunday.

"There is a great sense of excitement, a sense of expectation," said Juan Felipe Pitty, president of the Panamanian Maritime Law Association. He said that because of the incoming president, the proposed plans for canal expansion and a recent upturn in the economy, there was a feeling of optimism in Panama.

The United States withdrew its last soldiers and administrative canal personnel on Dec. 31, 1999, a move that brought some economic uncertainty. For the entire 20th century, the United States had been a central presence in Panama, operating the vital waterway that winds through this tropical country of 3 million. In 1989, U.S. soldiers invaded Panama and removed the unpopular military dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. Noriega was subsequently convicted on drug-trafficking charges in the United States and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

This vote took on special significance, said political science professor Miguel Antonio Bernal, because it represented this young democracy's "first elections without the Americans, who like to act as bodyguards."

Bernal, who supported Torrijos's main challenger, former president Guillermo Endara, said he did not believe Torrijos would be able to deliver on his many promises for change because he was a "tool of the establishment" who had benefited from the status quo.

Moises Benamor, chief of the Washington-based Organization of the American States mission observing the voting, said the election cost $30 million, a huge sum for a country with fewer than 2 million voters. He said there was scant public accounting of how the money was spent and that an important challenge for the new president would be to pass democratic reforms to make those details public. "Right now in this country, corruption is a big issue," Benamor said, adding that the public is demanding to know how tax dollars are being spent.

In addition to the capital, which is full of high-rises and U.S. chain stores, Panama also has a significant banana industry and growing tourism sector in the countryside. Nearly one-third of its people are considered to be living in poverty.

"What can I expect?" Fernando Manfredo Jr., a political analyst and former canal official, said about the new president. "Less corruption, but I don't see major changes."

© 2004