Puerto Rico Governor Promises New Vote on Island Statehood

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 11: Govenor Alejandro Garcia Padilla (L) and Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attend Malaria No More's International Honors Gala honoring Hilary Clinton on November 11, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Malaria No More 2013) (Photo : Getty)

Well, it looks like Puerto Rico's status as a United States territory/State is up in the air again.

Governor Alejandro García Padilla announced this week that he plans to have a direct vote by the year 2016 in order to determine the island's political future.

García also announced that his party, the Popular Democratic Party, is planning to create a definition for the new "commonwealth status" it desires.

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According to Fox New Latino, President Obama has already allocated an additional $2.5 million to help García's plebiscite become a reality, although the ballot measure will need to be OK'd by the US attorney general before citizens can vote on it.

Governor García has also stated that should the President not make a decision on the matter, he (García) would back a US constitutional assembly to determine Puerto Rico's status. The US Congress must ratify any such change in the territory's status, and García pledged that the proposed direct vote would contain "a variety of options" for people to choose from. 

Others are in favor of a more simple referendum that would just present Puerto Ricans with the option of becoming a US state or not.

The territory's Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi is Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, and his party has given its full approval for US statehood, preferring a simple referendum to do so.

Puerto Rico had a referendum in November of 2012 which was "widely criticized for being confusing" reports Fox Latino.

The ballot's first question asked voters whether or not they were happy with the "current commonwealth status," to which over 900,000 (or 54%) answered that they were not happy.

A second query on the ballot then prompted voters to choose a status for the territory. 1.3 million voters (or 61%) were in favor of statehood.

Another 437,000 backed "sovereign free association," and 72,560 voted for outright independence.

Further complicating the referendum was the fact that approximately 500,000 voters declined to answer the second question.

Similar nonbinding referendums were conducted in Puerto Rico in 1967, and again in 1993 and 1998.

The motion for statehood has never garnered a "clear majority," reports Fox Latino, and a vote for independence has never received more than 5 percent of Puerto Ricans' votes. 


Jonathan Moore |

Puerto Rico Governor Promises New Vote on Island Statehood