2016 Puerto Rican general election
8 November 2016
Gubernatorial election
Turnout55.33% (Decrease22.78pp)
 
Nominee Ricardo Rosselló David Bernier
Party New Progressive Popular Democratic
Alliance Democratic Democratic
Popular vote 660,510 614,190
Percentage 41.75% 38.82%
 
Nominee Alexandra Lúgaro Manuel Cidre
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 175,831 90,494
Percentage 11.11% 5.72%
Results by municipality
Governor before election

Alejandro García Padilla
Popular Democratic

 Elected Governor

Ricardo Rosselló
New Progressive

Resident Commissioner election
 
Candidate Jenniffer González-Colón Héctor Ferrer
Party New Progressive Popular Democratic
Alliance Republican Democratic
Popular vote 718,591 695,073
Percentage 48.59% 47.00%
Results by municipality
Resident Commissioner before election

Pedro Pierluisi
New Progressive

 Elected Resident Commissioner

Jenniffer González-Colón
New Progressive

General election were held in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, to elect the officials of the Puerto Rican government to serve from January 2017 to January 2021, most notably the Governor of Puerto Rico. Ricardo Rosselló was elected governor and Jenniffer González-Colón was elected Resident Commissioner. The elections saw a 23 percentage point drop in turnout and was the lowest voter turnout in Puerto Rican history.

Rossello would go on to serve a two-year term, having to resign on August 2, 2019 after protests as a result of the Telegramgate scandal. Wanda Vázquez Garced succeeded Rossello.

Candidates

Nominations

Before the election year, the Constitution of Puerto Rico provides for any qualified person to present their candidacy for a specific position. If two or more candidates from the same party present their candidacy for the same position, and they can't reach an agreement within the party, a primary election is held. This election is held within the inscribed members of each party, to select which of the candidates will represent the party in the general election.

Both of the main parties: New Progressive Party (PNP) and Popular Democratic Party (PPD), held primaries for several positions on June 5, 2016.

New Progressive Party (PNP)

The primaries were held on June 5, 2016 to determine candidates for Governor of Puerto Rico, the Senate, House of Representatives, and others. In the race to be the party's gubernatorial candidate, Ricardo Rosselló defeated Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi

The primaries were held on June 5, 2016 to determine several candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives, and others.

Minor parties

Two minor parties officialized their gubernatorial candidates. The Working People's Party (PPT) nominated Rafael Bernabe once again.[1] The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) nominated María de Lourdes Santiago.

Independents

Two independent candidates expressed their interest in running for Governor:

Governor

The official candidates for the position of Governor of Puerto Rico are:

Alejandro García Padilla, the incumbent governor declined to run for re-election.[4]

Resident commissioner

The resident commissioner of Puerto Rico is the only member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected every four years instead of a two-year term. The resident commissioner and gubernatorial candidates run together as a ticket, like a governor/lieutenant governor ticket would run in the other states, but there are still separate general elections for each position.

The official candidates for the position of Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico are:

Senate of Puerto Rico

At-large

The ballot featured sixteen (16) candidates from four different parties and one independent candidate (bold denotes incumbent candidates)

District

House of Representatives

At-large

The ballot featured sixteen (16) candidates from four different parties (bold denotes incumbent candidates)

Results

Governor

The candidate from the New Progressive Party (PNP) Ricky Rosselló beat the candidate from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) David Bernier obtaining 42% of the votes against 39% for Bernier. Most notably, the two independent candidates – Alexandra Lúgaro and Manuel Cidre – managed to arrive in third and fourth place with 11% and 6% respectively. For the fourth election in a row, the candidate of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) failed to receive the required 3% of the votes to remain registered. The same result happened to Rafael Bernabe from the Working People's Party (PPT) for the second election in a row.

CandidatePartyVotes%
Ricardo RossellóNew Progressive Party660,51041.75
David BernierPopular Democratic Party614,19038.82
Alexandra LúgaroIndependent175,83111.11
Manuel CidreIndependent90,4945.72
María de Lourdes SantiagoPuerto Rican Independence Party33,7292.13
Rafael Bernabe RiefkohlWorking People's Party5,4300.34
Write-ins1,7760.11
Total1,581,960100.00
Valid votes1,581,96099.71
Invalid votes7080.04
Blank votes3,8830.24
Total votes1,586,551100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,867,55755.33
Source: CEEPUR

Resident Commissioner

CandidatePartyVotes%
Jenniffer González-ColónNew Progressive Party718,59148.59
Héctor FerrerPopular Democratic Party695,07347.00
Hugo RodríguezPuerto Rican Independence Party39,7042.68
Mariana Nogales MolinelliWorking People's Party19,0331.29
Write-ins6,4150.43
Total1,478,816100.00
Valid votes1,478,81699.69
Invalid votes7120.05
Blank votes3,8830.26
Total votes1,483,411100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,867,55751.73
Source: CEEPUR

Senate

The numbers of legislators in this senate increased from 27 to 30, because the PNP won 21 of the 27 seats in contention, surpassing the two-thirds limit (18 seats). This automatically triggered Article Three of the Constitution of Puerto Rico which mandates that in such case new seats must be open for minority legislators. These new seats account for the number of seats the majority party surpassed (three seats in this election).

PartyAt-largeDistrictTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
New Progressive Party664,55345.3061,440,05050.381521
Popular Democratic Party503,63034.3361,210,90342.3617
Puerto Rican Independence Party130,5838.901150,9045.2801
Working People's Party9,9570.68053,3351.8700
Other parties5380.0403,2980.1200
Independents157,78810.7611
Total1,467,049100.00142,858,490100.001630
Valid votes1,467,04999.13
Invalid votes9530.06
Blank votes11,8720.80
Total votes1,479,874100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,867,55751.61
Source: Puerto Rico Election Archive

House of Representatives

PartyAt-largeDistrictTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
New Progressive Party705,75348.576750,84050.222834
Popular Democratic Party605,88741.704644,31643.091216
Puerto Rican Independence Party121,0668.33171,4424.7801
Working People's Party19,5371.34022,1691.4800
Other parties8660.0602,7800.1900
Independents3,6970.2500
Total1,453,109100.00111,495,244100.004051
Valid votes1,453,10999.131,495,24499.15
Invalid votes9530.079530.06
Blank votes11,8720.8111,8720.79
Total votes1,465,934100.001,508,069100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,867,55751.122,867,55752.59
Source: Puerto Rico Election Archive

Mayors

Despite losing most of the Senate and the House, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) managed to win a majority of the mayoralty races in the island, with a total of 45 out of 78 municipalities. The New Progressive Party (PNP) won a total of 33.[5]

PartyMayoralties
Popular Democratic Party45
New Progressive Party33
Puerto Rican Independence Party0
Working People's Party0
Total78
Source: CEEPUR

References

  1. ↑ "Bernabe aspirará nuevamente a la gobernación por el PPT". El Nuevo Día. October 25, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  2. ↑ Figueroa, Alex (March 17, 2015). "Abogada Alexandra Lúgaro oficializa su candidatura independiente para la gobernación". Primera Hora. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Manuel Cidre oficializa candidatura independiente a la gobernación". Metro. December 1, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Puerto Rico governor will not seek reelection". Yahoo. December 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Informe Estadistico EG2016 - Parte1" (PDF). Comisión Estatal de Elecciones Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
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