The State Elections Commission (CEE) announced this Sunday that Pedro Pierluisi has been elected the new governor of Puerto Rico after the elections held on November 3, coinciding with the US presidential and legislative elections.
Pierluisi, candidate of the New Progressive Party (PNP) has obtained 406,830 votes (32.93 percent) and has thus prevailed over the candidate of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), Charlie Delgado Altieri, who has obtained 389,896 votes (31.56 percent). hundred).
Alexandra Lúgaro from the Victoria Ciudadana Movement (MVC) has obtained 175,583 votes (14.21 percent) and Juan Dalmau RamÃrez, from the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), has obtained 169,516 votes (13.72 percent). Behind are César Vázquez Muñiz, from the Dignity Project with 85,211 votes (6.9 percent) and Eliezer Molina Pérez, with 8,485 votes (0.69 percent).
The participation has reached 52.84 percent after the vote of 1,235,521 citizens, according to the information published by the EEC and collected by the Puerto Rican newspaper ‘Primera Hora’ in its digital edition.
Puerto Rico has been under the tutelage of Washington since 1898, when it was invaded at the end of the war between Spain and the United States. Although the islanders received American citizenship in 1917, they have remained in colonial limbo in which much of the country’s economy depends on the world superpower.
Many people think that the island’s territorial status has contributed to the 10-year economic recession, triggered by decades of loans and the removal of tax incentives. Puerto Rico is exempt from income taxes, but pays Social Security and senior health insurance and local taxes. In addition, it receives less federal funds than the US states.
In 2017, around 97 percent of the Puerto Rican population voted in a referendum in favor of becoming a federal state of the United States, according to results corresponding to 97 percent of the count, although with only 23 percent of participation.
This November 3, a new referendum was held, the first with a simple yes or no question on joining the United States as a state. 52.34 percent have supported joining the United States, although the consultation is not binding.
