Years of growth forged prosaic politics. Now Panamanians are fed up

Panama’s elections are unusual. Turnout averages 75%. More than half of the country’s voters are affiliated with a political party, most of which are centre-right and pro-business. Strong economic growth, which averaged 5.9% over the 20 years after the country took ownership of the Panama canal at the turn of the century, led to calm politics. With few ideological snags, politicians could choose the party which suited them best. “Panama’s political parties are like baseball teams,” says R.M. Koster, a journalist and novelist from the United States who has lived in Panama since the 1950s. “They play the same game and the star players switch between them.”