Date 5 June 1932 | ||
The Panama held a general election on 5 June 1932, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new National Assembly.
During the Presidential campaign of 1932, the Liberal Party divided into three factions: the Chiarista Liberals (PLCh) led by former president Rodolfo Chiari Robles; the Doctrinary Liberals (PLDo) supporting Harmodio Arias Madrid; and the Reform Liberals (PLR), led by Francisco Arias Paredes ("don Pancho"). The Chiarist nominated Augusto Samuel Boyd, the PLDo chose Harmodio Arias Madrid, and the PLR selected Francisco Arias Paredes for candidate. After Boyd withdrew, Francisco Arias Paredes was elected comparatively quietly. Shortly before the end of the campaign a coalition of the PLCh and the PLR was effected with Francisco Arias Paredes the candidate of the combined parties.
Although the 1931 revolt toppled the Florencio Harmodio Arosemena administration, it failed to dislodge the elite’s structural hegemony, a condition that severely limited the new regime’s effectiveness. Before Arosemena’s ouster, followers of former president Rodolfo Chiari, Arosemena’s wealthy patron, controlled both the National Police and the electoral board. After the uprising, the Chiaristas still wielded considerable influence among the police and commanded a majority of votes on the electoral board.
To prevent Chiari’s followers from voting more than once, the Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro Jované administration requested U.S. assistance in devising a plan to prevent multiple voting. The United States provided the government with an indelible red dye to stamp voters’ hands once they had cast their ballots. The voting results underscored the extent to which the insurgents now controlled the nation’s election machinery. Although the Chiaristas figured out how to erase the ink and vote more than once, nationalist candidate Harmodio Arias Madrid won the election over Francisco Arias Paredes by the surprisingly large margin of 39,533 to 29,282.
Election day passed off quietly, in spite of the fact that the all-powerful Electoral Board was still controlled by Chiari. For the first time in the history of presidential contests in Panama neither party had requested American intervention. None of the three parties which named presidential candidates in 1932 sought the intervention of the United States. In fact, American interference seems to have become odious to all factions and parties.
"Francisco Arias Paredes held a precariously small majority in the Assembly (18 to 14)".