Puerto Ricans can’t vote in U.S. Presidential elections this November, but they’re getting ready to vote for two positions which are very important in Puerto Rico: Governor of Puerto Rico and Resident Commissioner.
The current governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, will not be running again. Here are the current candidates:
- Popular Democratic Party: David Bernier
- New Progressive Party: Ricky Rosselló
- Puerto Rican Independence Party: María de Lourdes Santiago,
- Independent candidates: Alexandra Lúgaro and Manuel Cidre,
A recent poll published in El Nuevo Dia, one of the major newspapers in Puerto Rico, found that Rossello is ahead with 42% of the vote, followed by Bernier with 35%.
Survey participants chose the same parties for the Resident Commissioner, preferring NPP congressional candidate Jenniffer Gonzalez with 49% over PDO candidate Hector Ferrer with 36%.The New Progressive Party is the party which favors statehood for Puerto Rico, and the survey also found that 65% of those surveyed would choose statehood in a yes/no vote.
However, Bernier is reported as saying that his party, which has historically favored “enhanced commonwealth,” will no longer support this idea. “Sticking by the ‘commonwealth’ idea was a key factor in the political downfall of Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla,” El Nuevo Dia reported, “since many party leaders accept repeated U.S. Government rejections of ‘commonwealth’ proposals.” The article said that many PDP officials now propose nationhood in free association with the United States, the arrangement the U.S. has with the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau.The survey asked 1,000 voters several questions between August 7th and 10th, 2016.
If given an up or down vote on statehood (Bernier’s stated preference), the voters surveyed said they would vote in this way:
- 65% for statehood28% against statehood
If given a choice between statehood and independence (the option proposed by Rosselló), participants said they would vote this way:
- 57% for statehood
- 9% for independence
- 34% unsure
These results are consistent with the 2012 plebiscite, in which 61% of voters who answered a ballot question regarding their preferred non-territorial status selected statehood as their top choice.
Rosselló has asked the current government (PDP) to hold a vote between statehood and independence in November along with the regular elections.
Rosselló has also said that he would hold a plebiscite, the funds for which were set aside by the U.S. federal government in 2014, as early as possible if he wins the governor’s race. Bernier has also spoken about plans to hold the plebiscite if he is elected.
History clearly shows the PDP/PPD only supported referendums when “commonwealth” was sure to win by outright majority of larger plurality.
In late 1980’s Governor Rafael H Colon (PPD) cancelled a scheduled local referendum after Ronald Reagan literally pledged to personally introduce a statehood enabling act if statehood won.(PPD’S message for decades prior was “The racist GOP didn’t want PR”, while the PPD simultaneously lobbied conservative GOP congressmen to oppose statehood.
Now that the PPD is trailing badly in polls,
Bernier now claims a “New open tent PDP/PPD neutral on status open to all ideologies including statehood supporters.”
This is typical PPD trickery to syphon votes away from statehood & Independence Supporters.
It’s not too late to put the Statehood/Independence question on the ballot for November is it?
It’s not too late, but the ruling “Popular Democrat Party appointed CEE election commissioner Liza M Garcia Velez,a “Popular Democrat” herself, will never allow it.
They oppose statehood & will NEVER allow that status any chance to win.
However, they’ll happily accept it if a Statehood Party /PNP NPP government is in control. In that case, the PPD strategy is the same: “punishment vote” against statehood – teach statehood party a lesson over whatever the PPD’S unhappy about!!
The PPD/PDP knows they will lose big in November. They have no serious plans for a plebiscite.
They will wait until the statehood party wins & does it themselves.
Then the PPD/PDP will turn any status referendum into a yes/no confidence vote against the statehood party. If it’s a statehood vs independence vote, they’ll boycott so that no one in DC will take the 96% statehood vote seriously.
They’ll say that “50% boycotted & its really 50% &- for statehood.”
Despite the fact only 7% at most favor independence outright,despite only 33% voting for Free Association (they were actually duped into voting for it under false name of “Sovereign Commonwealth”-they voted there because of the word “commonwealth/ELA”-not realizing it was a rewording of Free Association independence) that still leaves statehood with over 65%, but to the opponents of statehood in congress, any bs PPD naysayers is good enough for them.