Panamanians elected a new president on Sunday, but he will face an uphill battle to address the population's waning faith in government amid corruption scandals and rampant inequality.
Democratic Revolutionary Change party candidate Laurentino "Nito" Cortizo, a businessman and former politician, won the presidency with 33 percent of the vote. He will take office on July 1.
The centrist candidate had a double-digit lead in most polls leading up to Sunday's vote, but the race ended up being much tighter than anticipated with the two frontrunners separated by less than two points.
Cortizo was a member of the National Assembly from 1994 to 2004. He became Minister of Agricultural Development in the administration of Martin Torrijos, but resigned in 2006 in protest over concessions made during negotiations for the US-Panama Free Trade Agreement, signed the following year.