Panama is a small country with significant economic and political peculiarities that make it an interesting case study for understanding the dynamics of democracy in countries of the third wave of democratization. After a violent transition that shrank the political community, it managed to establish a democratic regime that has been considered successful. What has been the formula for this relative success? The authors argue that the model rests on a majoritarian and, therefore, highly exclusionary electoral system that was always challenged by third forces that finally managed to open it up and expose the deficits of the political system. The Covid-19 pandemic also showed the deterioration of Panamanian political institutions and became the immediate antecedent of large street mobilizations, as well as profound changes in the electoral competition that, step by step, seem to be processing the generalized desires for change of a very active Panamanian citizenry.