1940 Panamanian general election
General elections were held in Panama on 11 May 1940, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new National Assembly.
Arnulfo Arias' ties to the incumbent administration and, consequently, to the National Police gave him the advantage over his opponent. Moreover his temporary electoral coalition of liberal parties augmented his support among members of the electoral board. [1]
Shortly before polling day Ricardo J. Alfaro (the opposition coalition candidate) fled into the Zone for sanctuary, and Arnulfo Arias (the candidate of the National Revolutionary Party) became president by the familiar walkover. [2]
Arnulfo Arias pieced together a political coalition, including some oligarchs with fascistic tendencies and the growing, nationalistic middle class. He swept into power by a vote of 107,750 to 3,022. [3] Arnulfo Arias was elected on the basis of a nationalist program which rested on hostility to all foreigners in general and to the United States and the West Indian and Chinese minorities in Panama in particular. [4]
Results
President
Candidate | Party or alliance | Votes | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arnulfo Arias | National Coalition | National Revolutionary Party | 107,750 | 97.27 | ||
Chiarista Liberal Party | ||||||
Conservative Party | ||||||
Liberal Democratic Party | ||||||
United Liberal Party | ||||||
Ricardo J. Alfaro | Popular Front | Liberal Doctrinaire Party | 3,022 | 2.73 | ||
Liberal Renewal Party | ||||||
Socialist Party | ||||||
Total | 110,772 | 100.00 | ||||
Source: LaFeber[5] |
National Assembly
Party or alliance | Seats | +/– | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
National Coalition | National Revolutionary Party | 17 | +8 | ||
Liberal Democratic Party | 6 | +2 | |||
Chiarista Liberal Party | 5 | –2 | |||
United Liberal Party | 2 | +1 | |||
Conservative Party | 1 | –1 | |||
Popular Front | Liberal Doctrinaire Party | 0 | –8 | ||
Liberal Renewal Party | 0 | 0 | |||
Socialist Party | 0 | –1 | |||
Autonomous Provincial Concentration | 1 | New | |||
Total | 32 | – | |||
Source: Political Handbook of the World,[6] Almanaque Panameño[7] |
Aftermath
Between his inauguration in 1940 and his overthrow one year later, Arnulfo Arias increased the size and the power of the central government in Panama City, in an attempt to counter opposition to his administration. He began by calling a plebiscite to draft a new constitution. [8] "Arnulfo Arias Madrid had promulgated a new constitution in 1941, which was designed to extend his term of office. [9]
"In 1941 the United States urged the Panamanian Police to oust President Arias Madrid, who was balking at granting Washington ninety-nine-year leases on additional military bases and sites outside the Canal Zone". [10]
Early on the morning of 7 October 1941,
Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango assumed power following the resignation of the three Designates, and the next session of the National Assembly in January 1943 declined to elect new Designates. The opposition to President de la Guardia in the summer of 1944 kept insisting that Designates should be elected when the National Assembly met in January 1945. The first Designate would have automatically become President. On 28 December 1944, a severe political crisis took place just prior to the opening of the National Assembly which was to convene on 2 January 1945. The next day President de la Guardia suspended the Constitution of 1941, consequently cancelled the next prescribed session of the National Assembly, and called for a general election on 5 May 1945, to elect delegates to a Constitutional Assembly which would frame a new Constitution. [16]
References
- ^ Pearcy, Thomas L. We answer only to God: politics and the military in Panama, 1903-1947. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1998. Pp. 86.
- ^ Major, John. Prize possession: the United States and the Panama Canal, 1903-1979. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 1993. 262.
- ^ LaFeber, Walter. The Panama Canal: the crisis in historical perspective. New York: Oxford University Press. Updated edition. 1989. Pp. 74.
- ^ Institute for the Comparative Study of Political Systems. Panama: election factbook, May 12, 1968. Washington: Institute for the Comparative Study of Political Systems. 1968. Pp. 9.
- ^ LaFeber, Walter. The Panama Canal: the crisis in historical perspective. New York: Oxford University Press. Updated edition. 1989. p. 74.
- ^ Political Handbook of the world, 1941. New York, 1941. Pp. 140.
- ^ Almanaque panameño. Editorial Balboa, 1940. Pp. 264-265.
- ^ Pearcy, Thomas L. We answer only to God: politics and the military in Panama, 1903-1947. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1998. Pp. 88.
- ^ Black, Jan Knippers and Edmundo Flores. "Historical setting." Meditz, Sandra W. 1989. Panama: a country study. Washington, D.C.: Rederal Research Division, Library of Congress. Pp. 32.
- ^ Millett, Richard L. "Politicized warriors: the military and Central American politics." Goodman, Louis W. ed. 1992. Political parties and democracy in Central America. Boulder: Westview Press. Pp. 56.
- ^ Political Handbook of the world, 1942. New York, 1942. Pp. 145.
- ^ Time, 20.10.1941
- ^ Political Handbook of the world, 1942. New York, 1942. Pp. 145.
- ^ Time, 20.10.1941
- ^ Political Handbook of the world, 1942. New York, 1942. Pp. 146.
- ^ Political Handbook of the world, 1946. New York, 1946. Pp. 134.