By Mica Rosenberg and Sean Mattson
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Multimillionaire supermarket chain owner Ricardo Martinelli won Panama's presidential election on Sunday, bucking a trend of left-wing leadership wins in Latin America.
"The tribunal considers you the undisputed winner of this presidential contest," Erasmo Pinilla, head of the country's electoral tribunal, told Martinelli in a telephone call broadcast live by Panamanian TV and radio.
The pro-business conservative candidate was declared the clear victor over his rival, Balbina Herrera of the ruling centre-left Revolutionary Democratic Party, whose government has struggled to rein in crime and high prices.
With votes counted from more than half of the polling stations, official results showed Martinelli with 60.63 percent of the votes, against 36.85 for Herrera.
Martinelli's business experience appeared to have swayed voters worried about their livelihoods in a global recession.
Panama's dollarised economy has led Latin America with growth of near or above 10 percent in recent years, fuelled by U.S.-Asia trade through its transoceanic canal and robust banking activity.
But 2009 growth could slow to 3 percent or less as the global crisis hits credit and shipping.
"Before, with $20 (13 pounds) you could buy a lot, now the prices are double," Edith, a 47-year-old maid, said after casting her vote for Martinelli's Democratic Change party in the run-down neighbourhood of Calidonia. "As a businessman he might be able to figure out how to improve prices."
While the government launched an ambitious $5.25 billion (3.5 billion pound) expansion of the canal and is liked by foreign investors, Martinelli is seen as more pro-business than his rival.
Herrera has an anti-U.S. past and old ties to a former military strongman that rankle some voters.
Both candidates have promised to take a tough line against crime -- a popular message in Panama, which is a transit point for South American cocaine trafficked to the United States.
GROWTH SEEN FALLING THIS YEAR
In a parallel parliamentary vote on Sunday, analysts said Herrera's PRD has a well-established political base that might give it a majority in the 71-seat Congress, creating an opposition that could complicate Martinelli's rule.
Demand for luxury apartments in the skyscrapers that dominate Panama City's skyline is dropping. Builders say some projects are on hold and half-built condos are up for sale.
Martinelli, 57, a U.S.-educated and self-made businessman who owns the dominant Super 99 supermarket chain, wants to build ports, highways and a Panama City subway.
He also would impose a flat tax of between 10 percent and 20 percent to appeal to foreign investors keen for a clearer tax code, but the measure would raise taxes on Panama's thriving banking and insurance sectors.
Panama has agreed a free trade accord with the United States, which has been held up in the U.S. Congress by concerns about Panamanian labour rights and tax evasion.
Herrera, 54, clashed with Washington when she led protests against former President George H.W. Bush when he visited after a 1989 U.S. invasion to oust Gen. Manuel Noriega, a dictator who was jailed in the United States on drugs charges.
A former housing minister, Herrera has tried to play down her old links to Noriega, who has said he hid in her home during the invasion. Her supporters say that is history.
(Additional reporting by Elida Moreno; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
