Everything about Panama Canal Expansion Referendum 2006 totally explained
The
Panama Canal expansion referendum was held on
October 22,
2006, when the citizens of
Panama approved the
Panama Canal expansion project by a wide margin.
Constitutional background
According to article 325 of the Panamanian
Constitution, any proposal for the construction of a third set of locks or a sea-level
Canal on the existing route that the
Panama Canal Authority (ACP) proposes has to be approved by the
executive branch and submitted to the
National Assembly for its approval or rejection. It also has to be submitted to a national referendum no earlier than three months after its approval by the National Assembly.
Proposal
The
Panama Canal expansion proposal was presented on
April 24,
2006 by
President Martín Torrijos to the Panamanian people after years of study by the ACP. The largest project at the Canal since its original construction, the expansion will double its capacity and allow more traffic.
The project will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through the construction of a new set of locks. Details of the project include the following integrated components:
- The construction of two lock complexes, one on the Atlantic side and another on the Pacific side, each with three chambers, which include three water-saving basins;
- The excavation of new access channels to the new locks and the widening of existing navigational channels; and
- The deepening of the navigation channels and the elevation of Gatún Lake's maximum operating level.
According to the ACP, the project will have an estimated cost of
US$5.25 billion, will be self-financed by tolls increase and will take up to 7 or 8 years of construction time.
Panama's
Cabinet approved the project, and on
July 14, the National Assembly unanimously approved the proposal to expand the Canal. In addition, the Assembly created and passed a law mandating a national
referendum in which the people of Panama would vote to approve expansion. The referendum was held on
October 22,
2006, the first Sunday at least 90 days after the legislation was signed.
Referendum question
The referendum used a single
ballot divided in half with
Sí (Yes) at the left with a green background and
No at the right with a red background. Above these two options the text of the question read:
» Do you approve the proposal of construction of a Third Set of Locks on the Panama Canal?
Campaign
Opposition to the project was vigorous as skeptics questioned the government's cost estimates and raised fears that corruption would doom the project. But the government's campaign for the expansion, the largest modernization of the canal in its history, was even more intense. Officials portrayed a "sí" vote as a vote for the children of Panama. Without an expanded canal, officials predicted, shipping traffic would find other routes and Panama's growing economy would dry up.
Voting
The voting process went smoothly, without major events that could tamper the results. The
voter turnout was low, 43.32%.
Voting took place on schedule from 7 am to 4 pm but people still in line at that time were allowed to vote.
ImageSize = width:450 height:180
PlotArea = left:30 bottom:20 top:20 right:20
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
AlignBars = justify
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:80.0
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
AlignBars = early
Colors =
id:gray value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97)
id:SI value:rgb(0.2, 0.8, 0)
id:NO value:rgb(0.8, 0, 0)
id:darkgray value:rgb(0.27,0.27,0.27)
id:midgray value:rgb(0.57,0.57,0.57)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:midgray increment:10 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray increment:1 start:0
BarData=
barset:Candidates
PlotData=
width:15 fontsize:S textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) color:red
barset:Candidates
from:0 till:76.83 color:SI width:20 align:left fontsize:M text:"Yes - 76.83%"
from:0 till:21.76 color:NO width:20 align:left fontsize:M text:"No - 21.76%"
from:0 till:1.41 color:darkgray width:20 align:left fontsize:M text:" blank/null votes - 1.41% Voter turnout was 43.32%"
TextData=
pos:(155,170) fontsize:M text:Official results of the referendum
pos:(170,152) fontsize:S text:by Electoral Tribunal of Panama
pos:(400,1) fontsize:S text:(%)
Reactions to the results
President Martín Torrijos said this was the most important decision this generation had to take. He considered the decision an opportunity that has to include all Panamanians, the ones that voted Yes, the ones that voted No, the ones that decided not to vote and the ones too young to vote.
The Republic of China (commonly known as "Taiwan") congratulated Panama on its referendum result and offered to participate in the expansion of the Panama Canal.
The trade organization Dansk Rederiforening (the Danish Shipping Council) was pleased with the decision to expand the Panama Canal and believe that the expansion will be positive both to the Danish and the international shipping industry.
U.S. Ambassador William Eaton said that "There will be an impact on the pocketbook. The transit costs will be cheaper, and that will have an effect on the market. This is important to the U.S. It's important to our economy".
John LaRue, executive director of the U.S. port of Corpus Christi, Texas, said "The (canal project) just improves trade, the West Coast ports have grown dramatically because of all the Asian cargo. Routing ships to the Gulf would save the West Coast's infrastructure and benefit us as all. I don't see any negatives."
Fitch Ratings stated that the approval of the Panama Canal expansion referendum could yield positive results for the country in the long term in terms of higher external and fiscal receipts and GDP growth prospects. However, the referendum itself won't have an immediate impact on Panama's sovereign ratings, as uncertainties remain about debt financing, future revenues from tolls, and Panama's ongoing fiscal consolidation.
Polls
The dates listed are normally the date the survey was concluded, not the date it was published. Most news and political affairs sources use the convention of using the last date that the poll was conducted in order to establish the inclusion/exclusion of current events. Only polls after the proposal unveiling (April 24, 2006) are included.
This poll was done as a simulated referendum, using a similar ballot to the one used on the October 22 referendum, having a secret vote. People that said that they were definitely not going to vote (16%) were excluded from this simulation. This exercise had no null or blank votes.
In this poll the question was made out loud and the answer was registered.
This time the same people were asked to make a simulated vote too. People that said they were not going to vote on the referendum were excluded (7.8%).
The margin of error in these surveys is typically between 2 and 2.9%. See the links for actual error values associated with particular surveys.Further Information
Get more info on 'Panama Canal Expansion Referendum 2006'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://panama_canal_expansion_referendum__2006.totallyexplained.com">Panama Canal expansion referendum, 2006 Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
