Above: Panama City

By the Caribbean Journal staff

An Electoral Observation Mission from the Organization of American States arrived in Panama this week for a visit ahead of the country’s planned general elections on May 4.

The purpose of the trip, the second by the EOM to the country, was to “gather information on the progress of the organization” of the elections, according to a statement from the Organization of American States.

Lourdes Flores Nano, who was appointed chief of mission for the EOM by Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, is holding meetings this week with “various electoral authorities, government officials, member of political parties, and presidential candidates, as well as representatives of the international community in the country,” according to the OAS.

The mission will ultimately include 50 experts and observers deployed throughout the country, according to the OAS, observing different aspects of the electoral process.

The OAS has observed nine elections in Panama since 1972, as it regularly does in most regional countries.