SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jenniffer González of Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood New Progressive Party was leading polls on Wednesday in a historic gubernatorial election that could see her party secure a third consecutive term for the first time.
González had 39%, or 438,183 votes with 91% of precincts reporting, according to Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission.
Coming in second so far was Juan Dalmau, who ran for Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and Citizen Victory Movement. He obtained 33% or 364,145 of votes, making him the first candidate from outside the two main parties in the island to finish second in Puerto Rico’s general election.
No winner has been certified, Jessica Padilla, the commission’s alternate president, said at a news conference early Wednesday.
“There are still votes in process of being counted,” she said.
On Tuesday, the commission is scheduled to start reviewing all votes and eventually certify final results, although it’s too early to say when that would happen.
While González claimed a win, Dalmau said his party would wait until every vote had been counted.
“This is the beginning of a glorious transformation of our country,” he said late Tuesday. Thank you for helping me make history.”
The Popular Democratic Party, a major party that supports the island’s status as a U.S. territory, was pushed into third place as its candidate Jesús Manuel Ortiz obtained 21% or 233,470 votes. Meanwhile, Javier Jiménez of Project Dignity, a conservative party, obtained 7% of the vote.
The winner will replace Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, who was defeated by González in an upset in a primary election held in June by their New Progressive Party.
“I’m going to be a governor for all Puerto Ricans,” González said late Tuesday, promising to represent all those who voted for her, against her or didn’t vote at all.
In the race to become Puerto Rico’s new representative in U.S. Congress, Pablo José Hernández of the Popular Democratic Party was leading. He obtained 46% of the vote compared with 35% for William Villafañe of the pro-statehood party, according to partial results.
Dashed hopes
Dalmau’s strong showing was a sign of a growing body of voters who are giving up on the island’s two established parties.
A growing number of voters old and young have said they were tired of persistent corruption, chronic power outages and a lack of affordable housing, among other things. Their search for new leaders has begun to loosen the hold that the New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party had over Puerto Rico’s politics for decades.