PANAMA CITY, Panama, May 2 (UPI) -- The 40-year-old son of a former Panamania dictator easily won the presidency of the country Sunday, apparently by a 17-percentage point margin.
Martin Torrijos, son of Gen. Omar Torrijos, graduated from Texas A&M University. He was born out of wedlock and raised mostly by his mother, the Washington Post reported.
The elder Torrijos ran Panama from 1968 until he was killed in a plane crash in 1981.
Torrijos accepted the win when called by the president of the election tribunal, a call that was broadcast to the nation Sunday.
Gen. Torrijos negotiated the treaty that turned the Panama Canal over to Panama, beginning four years ago. His son may now preside over the the widening of the canal, the most significant construction project since the original canal project in 1914.
In 1980 the U.S. invaded Panama and removed Manuel Antonio Noriega, the military dictator sentenced to a 30-year jail sentence.
Sunday's was the first national vote since Panama gained control of the canal.
