Puerto Rico upholds statehood demand in contentious vote

[Bacchus4.0]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/puerto-rico-gov-upholds-statehood-vote-hit-boycott-47976936

Puerto Rico's governor is vowing to make the U.S. territory the 51st state after statehood won in a non-binding referendum hit by a boycott and low turnout that raised questions about the vote's legitimacy.

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But experts say it is highly unlikely a Republican-controlled Congress would acknowledge Sunday's results, let alone accept them because Puerto Rico tends to favor Democrats.


More than half a million people voted for statehood during Sunday's referendum, followed by nearly 7,800 votes for free association/independence and more than 6,800 votes for the current territorial status. Voter turnout was just 23 percent.

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Three of Puerto Rico's political parties including the main opposition party had called on their supporters to boycott the referendum, which they labeled a failure.

[TexasProgresive]

1. Oh palezzze! 2 more Dem senators and how many reps (?)

[Marksman_91]

2. And only 25% of registered voters actually voted. I feel it's not gonna do much

Those who were not for it simply boycotted the whole thing, so the final result doesn't mean much as it's clearly not what the majority want.

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Yeah, I didn't follow too closely but the "commonwealth" party was dealt a big set back

with a recent SCOTUS case where they declared the island did not have separate sovereignty. So after 60+ years of telling people that PR is not a colony under the commonwealth status, SCOTUS said they are. Not sure what they are proposing. Anyway, statehood ain't gonna happen. Should be independence but they won't vote for that either. Nothing is really going to change.