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The majority of media focus has been on the U.S. mainland and the disastrous results of convicted felon Donald Trump winning the presidential election. The governor's race in Puerto Rico, however, is still waiting for the result despite a declaration of a win by Republican Trump supporter Jenniffer González-Colón.
The second-place candidate, Juan Dalmau, of the Puerto Rican Independence Party is also celebrating. His party and the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (in English the Citizens' Victory Movement) have formed an alliance dubbed “La Alianza,” and they are thrilled with their major move “up” in the political party rankings on the island.
Regardless of who wins, it will make history. If González wins, it will be the first time her New Progressive Party will get three consecutive wins. If Dalmau wins, it will be the first time a candidate outside of the two main parties has won.
And let’s not forget the age-old question of Puerto Rican statehood.
We have been following the progress of the electionin Puerto Rico in prior stories.
A little background on the election from economist Francisco A. Català Oliveras for the newspaper Claridad:
In the case of Puerto Rico, we must recognize the extraordinary advance of hope represented by the electoral results of the PIP-MVC Alliance. However, we cannot ignore that the bipartisan PNP-PPD system, increasingly conservative and right-wing, is still alive. Its new stage will be headed by the elected governor and resident commissioner.
The basis of the many problems facing Puerto Rican society can be summed up in two forms of degradation: political subordination and dependence. Given this, both the new governor and the new resident commissioner look like two peas in a pod. What can we expect from them? On the one hand, ridiculous chants of statehood; on the other hand, pure immobility. On both sides, humiliating requests for access to federal funds. In other words, we should not expect a solution to any problem, but rather the opposite.
Journalist Carlos Berríos Polanco wrote this update for The Latino Newsletter:
González, a Republican, will be the fourth PNP governor since 2017, continuing what will be an 8-year streak of PNP-led governments in Puerto Rico. She will be replacing the current Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia, a Democrat, who was defeated in a surprise upset during the party’s primary election in June.
Meanwhile, Dalmau Ramírez said, “we triumphed, we redrew the history of this country on this day” on Election Night. However, he refused to concede defeat until every vote was certified.
Votes are still being counted. At the time of publication, only 91% of the vote has been tabulated, and general scrutiny will begin next week. Write-in ballots have not been counted yet.
It is the first time a candidate for governor from the PIP has placed second in a gubernatorial race, showing that many people in the archipelago are giving up on the bipartisan control long held by the PNP and the pro-status quo Popular Democratic Party.
Dalmau and supporters are shown here celebrating:
Dalmau’s “loss” in Puerto Rico is clearly seen as a win. René Pérez, better known as "Residente" from the Puerto Rican hip-hop group Calle 13, explained to the Latin Times why the growth of the PIP party, getting about 31% of the vote, was so important.
"I grew up seeing the PIP get 3, 4, 5%, sometimes 14%, but now it's at 31%. It's an upward trend while other parties decline. There's an awakening among young people; I feel that the youth who are now 15 or 16, who lived through 2019, understand what's possible when people unite. They are Puerto Rico's future, the future voters who will drive a generational shift," Residente said.
The vote for Puerto Rican statehood was also notable, as La Perla del Sur reported:
With 91 percent of the polls counted, statehood had 528,379 votes, equivalent to 56.8 percent.In second place was independence, 286,923 votes, representing 30.8 percent, the highest percentage ever obtained by this ideology in a plebiscite in the modern era.
[...]
Meanwhile, a total of 165,521 ballots had been left blank, exceeding the total votes for Sovereignty in Free Association. Another 12,737 ballots were “damaged”.
It is worth mentioning that the current Commonwealth status was excluded from the options and in view of this, the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) urged its followers not to participate in the dynamics, leaving their ballots blank.
The article points out that the Popular Democratic Party urged its members to leave their ballots blank, and that the plebiscite was ridiculed by PIP, MVC, and Proyecto Dignidad as a ploy by the statehood party to turn out its members.
Interesting how quickly Minority Leader Mitch McConnell went on record rejecting the idea of new states:
Editorial cartoonist Kike Estrada drew an immediate response:
“Did you hear this, Jenniffer?
We are not going to admit new states.”
Journalist José A. Delgado addressed the implications of Trump’s win for Puerto Rico for El Nuevo Dia:
For Puerto Rico, it will mean dealing with the challenges of rebuilding with a new Trump presidency, after in his first four-year term he stopped emergency appropriations, strongly opposed statehood and claimed that all Puerto Rican politicians are corrupt.
Trump, who has said he wants to be dictator “for a day,” will again enter the White House amid strong rejection by Puerto Ricans on the island, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of Kamala Harris (74% to 26%) in a symbolic presidential vote engineered by the New Progressive Party (PNP). In 2016, island Republicans rejected him in primaries, with only 13% support.
[...]
Along with Puerto Rico’s general election and the symbolic vote in which three out of four voters rejected Trump, a plebiscite was held between statehood, independence and sovereignty in free association. Like the bill passed by the Democratic majority in the lower House on December 15, 2022, Puerto Rico’s non-binding referendum excluded the current territorial status.
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