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# Panama Assembly Approves New Electoral Map
- URL: https://balboa.news/panama-assembly-approves-new-electoral-map/
- Published: 2026-09-27T14:59:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-27T14:59:24.000Z
- Author: Balboa News Desk
- Tags: Politics

Panama’s National Assembly has approved a new electoral map that would shift legislative representation from Panamá province to the rapidly growing province of Panamá Oeste ahead of the 2029 elections.

Bill 700 passed its third and final Assembly debate on September 24 by 43 votes to 21, with no abstentions. It now goes to President José Raúl Mulino for sanction and has not yet become law.

The legislation would leave the size of the National Assembly unchanged at 71 seats while increasing the number of electoral circuits from 39 to 41.

Panamá province would lose two seats, reducing its delegation from 25 lawmakers to 23\. San Miguelito and two other circuits in the metropolitan area would each lose one seat, while the eastern Panamá circuit would gain one.

Both seats removed from the province would move west of the Panama Canal. Arraiján and La Chorrera, two districts that have experienced rapid population growth, would each gain an additional lawmaker.

Bocas del Toro’s existing two-seat circuit would be divided into two single-member districts. Changuinola would form one circuit, while Almirante, Chiriquí Grande, Bocas del Toro district and the Naso Tjër Di indigenous territory would form the other.

The Assembly amended a more extensive change proposed by the Electoral Tribunal in Chiriquí. The tribunal had recommended creating a seventh circuit in the province, but lawmakers retained its six existing circuits and current allocation of nine seats while changing the grouping of several districts.

The redistribution is based on demographic changes reflected in the final electoral register used for Panama’s 2024 elections. It would govern the election of lawmakers in May 2029 if signed and promulgated.

The bill’s passage represents the most advanced stage of Panama’s electoral-map revision, but the approved boundaries will not take effect unless the legislation completes the presidential process.

**Sources:** La Estrella