Ricardo Martinelli

Ricardo Martinelli, the President-elect of Panama, is an American-educated, multi-millionaire businessman and philanthropist. With promises to stem the twin scourges of crime and inflation, Martinelli decisively beat social democrat Balbina Herrera for the office, on May 3, 2009.Telegraph: Panama election: supermarket millionaire Martinelli wins presidency (May 3, 2009)

Results showed the candidate, who won only 5.3 percent of the vote in 2004, topping 60 percent in 2009.Xinhua: Opposition candidate Martinelli wins Panama's elections (May 3, 2009) The victory of a wealthy conservative defied Latin America's leftward political tilt and opened questions about Panama's relationships with nearby Venezuela and Nicaragua.Telegraph: Panama election: supermarket millionaire Martinelli wins presidency (May 3, 2009)

Before 2009 election, Panama's center-left Democratic Revolutionary Party had led the nation since military strongman Manuel Noriega was brought down in the 1989 U.S. invasion. Many Panamanian voters were reportedly attracted by Martinelli's image as a business-savvy political outsider.Christian Science Monitor: Conservative supermarket tycoon wins Panama vote (May 3, 2009) Herrera's reported links to Noriega, however, may have been a decisive factor as well.Christian Science Monitor: Conservative supermarket tycoon wins Panama vote (May 3, 2009) Telegraph: Panama election: supermarket millionaire Martinelli wins presidency (May 3, 2009)