By EFE
03 Jun 2024, 09:38 AM EDT
By Marina Villen
San Juan – Jenniffer González and Jesús Manuel Ortiz will be the candidates for governor of Puerto Rico in the November elections for the New Progressive Party (PNP) and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), after winning this Sunday in a surprise primary in the that the governor, Pedro Pierluisi, was defeated.
Tension remained high until the end in the PNP race, in which González won with 56% of the votes over Pierluisi, who is also the president of the party, according to the partial results of the State Election Commission (CEE). ).
“It is a special day for all Puerto Ricans who opted for change,” said the resident commissioner in Washington, promising an “agile” Government that listens to and serves the people.
Alluding to the elections next November, González promised that the PNP “will prevail in the Chamber and Senate,” which are currently dominated by the Popular Democratic Party (PPD).
González made history again by becoming the first PNP candidate for governor and, if she won the November elections, she would be the second woman elected governor of the island.
Pierluisi, surprised with his defeat
For Pierluisi, who was seeking a second term, it is a big blow, since this is the first time that an elected governor has lost his party’s primary in Puerto Rico.
“It hurts me, I didn’t expect it,” the governor acknowledged at a press conference after accepting González’s victory.
The governor wished him “success” in the November elections and explained that he took a while to appear before the press because he was pending the result of the early vote.
Despite the fact that the count gave a clear advantage to González, Pierluisi’s campaign insisted until the end that everything depended on the early vote that supposedly favored them, although in the end this was not the case.
In the opposition PPD, the CEE data showed from the beginning that Ortiz was ahead of his rival: the senator and former Secretary of the Treasury Juan Zaragoza.
Ortiz, president of the PPD and legislator, won Zaragoza with 62% of the votes and will seek in the November elections for his party to govern again.
The popular ones promise to “change the destiny” of Puerto Rico
“The party is ready and I am ready to assume the next responsibility: leading, together with the entire Popular Party work team, to a victory in November,” Ortiz assured in statements to EFE.
After declaring his victory in the primaries, Ortiz promised to work for “a new and better Puerto Rico,” highlighting that his party is “the vehicle to change the destiny” of the island.
The primaries took place with some incidents because bad weather caused power outages in several voting centers.
On this day, voters also elected other candidates from the PNP and the PPD to positions such as resident commissioner, mayors, representatives and senators.
The other parties on the island – Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC) and Proyecto Dignidad (PD) – did not hold primaries and will directly face the winners of the PNP and PPD in the November elections.
The leader of the PIP, Juan Dalmau, assured that the results of the primaries confirm that with the PNP and the PPD “the people always lose,” denouncing that these two parties have led the island to “bankruptcy, poverty and marginalization.” ”.
In his message, Dalmau, who is the candidate for governor of the PIP and MVC alliance, called on citizens to vote in November for this political project that he defined as “of hope and change.”
More on El Diario’s special coverage of the primaries in Puerto Rico this Sunday:
Primaries in Puerto Rico: Jenniffer González maintains the lead against Pierluisi in candidacy for governor for the PNP
Primaries in Puerto Rico: Jenniffer González dresses twins with messages alluding to her candidacy
LUMA Energy confirms blackouts at voting centers in Puerto Rico in the middle of primaries
Primaries in Puerto Rico: gubernatorial candidate Jesús Manuel Ortiz assures that the PPD is in a position to win in November