Voters in Panama elected José Raúl Mulino as president, according to preliminary results on Sunday.
Mulino, who is a close confidant of disgraced former head of state Ricardo Martinelli, wants to stop irregular migration through the Darién jungle in the south of the Central American country towards the United States.
Mulino won about 35% of votes, the country's electoral authority said after more than 90% of the votes had been counted.
Some 3 million people were eligible to vote in the election, with polls also being held for a total of 71 parliamentary seats and almost 800 local offices.
The constitution prohibits the direct re-election of the incumbent.
Among the eight presidential candidates were José Gabriel Carrizo from the governing PRD party, former president Martín Torrijos, the former consul in Washington, Ricardo Lombana, and the former minister for the Panama Canal, Rómulo Roux.
Mulino, 64, will take office as head of state and prime minister on July 1.
The former foreign, security and justice minister, was nominated as a replacement candidate for right-wing populist Martinelli.
Martinelli was excluded from the race after being convicted of money laundering and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
He was granted asylum by Nicaragua and has been staying in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama since March.
On Friday, Panama's Supreme Court dismissed a complaint that Mulino's subsequent nomination had violated the constitution.