Top parties in tight contest for the territory’s leadership
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s two main political parties were in a tight gubernatorial race late Tuesday after voters stood in long lines and forced polling centers to remain open late as they chose new leaders they hope can help heal a U.S. territory wracked by corruption, hurricanes, earthquakes and the coronavirus pandemic.
Early results gave a slim lead to Pedro Pierluisi of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, the territory’s former non-voting representative in Congress who briefly served as governor following huge street protests last year Gov. Ricardo Rosselló to resign. Carlos
Delgado of the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the island’s territorial status, was a close second.
Lagging behind were Juan Dalmau of the Puerto Rican Independence Party,
Alexandra Lúgaro of Citizen Victory Movement, César Vázquez of the Dignity Project and independent candidate Eliezer Molina.
The results were trickling in just hours after voters armed with water, snacks and folding chairs fanned themselves as they waited under a harsh sun to cast their ballots Some arrived around dawn and waited up to three hours for centers to open.
Also on the ballot was the island’s sixth referendum on whether to change its current territorial status. It asked one question: “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the union as a state?” The vote is advisory as Congress would have to approve that happening.
As people still waited to vote, Puerto Rico’s elections commission began posting early results until its website crashed, eliciting a groan from many across the island who drew comparisons to a botched primary in
August that forced a second round of voting.
In the race to become the mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital, three candidates are vying to replace San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, known for sparring with U.S. President Donald Trump after Hurricane Maria hit the island in September 2017, causing damages estimated at more than $100 billion and killing an estimated 2,975 people in its aftermath.
Less than two years after the storm, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets to demand the resignation of Rosselló in an event known as the “Summer of 2019,” a movement sparked by a leaked chat in which the then governor and other officials made fun of hurricane victims, among other things, and made comments that led to an investigation into possible corruption.
The new candidates are promising to fight corruption and turn the island around at a time of economic crisis and efforts to restructure a portion of Puerto Rico’s more than $70 billion public debt, which officials declared unpayable in 2015.
Whoever wins will have to work alongside a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances and has previously clashed with local officials over austerity measures, including proposed public pension cuts.
There are 2.36 million eligible voters, compared with 2.87 million in 2016 and 2.4 million in 2012.