Only 23 Percent of Puerto Ricans Vote in U.S. Statehood Referendum

On Sunday, over half a million Puerto Ricans voted in a referendum seeking U.S. statehood with 97 percent of voters choosing to make Puerto Rico America’s 51^st state.

However, most people stayed clear of the voting stations that day while mostly only those in favor of statehood voted. Many opposition parties and those who considered the election “rigged” chose to boycott the special election. Puerto Rico, where most voter participation is around 80 percent, had only 23 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

It will be up to Congress, the only body that can approve new states, to decide whether or not the status of the U.S. commonwealth will change.

Governor Ricardo A. Rosselló of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party claimed he plans to take the island’s conquest to Washington and press Congress in an attempt to admit Puerto Rico to the U.S.

“It will be up to this new generation of Puerto Ricans to demand and claim in Washington the end of the current improper colonial relationship, and begin a transition process to fully incorporate Puerto Rico as the next state of the Union,” he said in a statement Sunday.

In 2012, a prior voting was held in favor of Puerto Rico becoming a state. However, statehood opponents claimed the voter turnout wasn’t high enough and didn’t reflect the will of the entire society. Many fear that this is another failed attempt.

Rosselló’s political opponents who are against statehood believe going to Congress with such lopsided results could potentially hurt the governor’s cause.

“A 97 percent win is the kind of result you get in a one-party regime,” former Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá said in an interview with The New York Times. “Washington will laugh in their faces.”

Although people are doubtful of the outcome, Rosselló remains positive that Puerto Rico has a chance at being considered America’s 51^st state.

“From today going forward, the Federal Government will no longer be able to ignore the voice of the majority of the American citizens in Puerto Rico. It would be highly contradictory for Washington to demand democracy in other parts of the world, and not respond to the legitimate right to self-determination that was exercised today in the American territory of Puerto Rico,” he said.

Featured Image via Flickr/Brad Clinesmith