In October 2, 2016 José Luis Varela was elected President of the Panameñistas Party, and is its current President. Moscoso included in her platform a pledge to work to repeal press restrictions dating to the Torrijos era that criminalized criticism of public officials and permitted prior censorship; in 1999 she signed a bill that mandated the submission of legislation to bring Panama's press laws in line with international standards by June 2000. This legislation was not forthcoming, but government disclosure laws were passed in 2001. Lawsuits against journalists continued; even President Moscoso, along with Winston Spadafora, the former minister of government and justice and a current Supreme Court justice, filed a criminal defamation suit. In 2005, many of the 'gag laws' enacted under military rule in the 1960s were repealed by new president Martin Torrijos. Presidential and legislative elections were held in Panama on May 3, 2009. Juan Carlos Varela was the candidate of the Panameñista Party, but eventually supported Ricardo Martinelli in a coalition of four parties, led by Martinelli's Democratic Change party. With 60% of the vote, Martinelli went on to beat the incumbent Democratic Revolutionary Party who had formed its own three-party coalition. Varela, the Panameñista leader, became Panama's vice president to President Martinelli. Former 1990's president Guillermo Endara placed a distant third with 2.3% of the vote as the official candidate for the new Fatherland's Moral Vanguard Party, after gaining 31% in the last elections (2004). Martinelli's and Varela's Alliance for Change coalition also dominated the National Assembly in 2009, winning 44 seats against 27 of the second-place coalition, with 2 other seats belonging to independents. A total of 22 legislative seats went specifically to the Panameñista Party. However, the alliance had split by 2011, and a number of members from the Panameñista Party joined the Democratic Change Party, leaving the Panameñista Party with a remnant of 12 legislative seats. Juan Carlos Varela was the Panameñista Party's candidate once again for the 2014 general election. The election polls had him ranked third in a field of six candidates for almost the entire campaign period, but Varela ran a very good campaign with a steady and strong message that touched the most important issue for Panamanians. On May 4, 2014, Juan Carlos Varela was elected President of Panama with a healthy 39% of the votes in what turned out to be a three-man race.