A polling official destroys leftover ballots after voting is finished at a polling station, in Panama City, capital of Panama, on May 4, 2014. The voting process in the Panamanian general elections closed at 16 p.m. local time (GMT 2100) on Sunday. (Xinhua/Mauricio Valenzula)
Panama's general elections were held on Sunday in a calm and peaceful manner with the polling stations closed at 4 p.m. local time (9 p.m. GMT).
The elections which began at 7 a.m. local time (12 p.m. GMT) were peaceful throughout the country, Panama's Supreme Electoral Court president Erasmo Pinilla said.
On Sunday, some 2.4 million Panamanians were called to vote to elect new president and vice-president, 71 members of the National Assembly (unicameral congress), 77 mayors, 648 district representatives, seven councilors and 20 members of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen).
The main presidential candidates include Jose Domingo Arias, candidate from the ruling conservative Democratic Change Party, Juan Carlos Navarro from the opposition center-left Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and Juan Carlos Varela from the conservative Panamenista Party (PP). Also, Genaro Lopez from the Broad Front of Democracy (FAD) and the independent candidates Esteban Rodriguez, Gerardo Barroso, Juan Jovane and former comptroller and independent legislative candidate Alvin Weeden.
Weeden, who complained that his picture was not included in the paper ballots, said he might challenge the election.
But Pinilla responded that Weeden had made his complaint in a personal way but he rejected the election could be challenged, according to local television channel Telemetro.