2008 New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico primaries

The 2008 New Progressive Party primaries were the primary elections by which voters of the New Progressive Party (PNP) chose its nominees for various political offices of Puerto Rico, namely the position of governor, for the 2008 general elections. Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño was selected as the nominee at the primary elections held on March 9, 2008. He would go on to win the 2008 general election as well.

New Progressive Party primaries, 2008
March 9, 2008
 
Nominee Luis Fortuño Pedro Rosselló
Party New Progressive New Progressive
Popular vote 445,026 306,590
Percentage 59.21% 40.79%
New Progressive Party results for Governor. Light blue denotes a Fortuño win and navy blue a Rosselló win.
Previous PNP Governor candidate

Pedro Rosselló

 PNP Governor candidate-elect

Luis Fortuño

Puerto Rico
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Background

Pedro Rosselló had come from a defeat against Aníbal Acevedo Vilá at the 2004 elections. Despite that, he managed to gain a seat in the Senate. After an unsuccessful power struggle within the Senate to gain the presidency of the body, it was speculated that Rosselló would make another attempt at being elected Governor for the 2008 elections.

The power struggle had caused a division within the party, with the faction that supported Senate President Kenneth McClintock (called the "Auténticos") being expelled from the party during the previous year. Although the Supreme Court allowed them to run in the PNP primaries, Pedro Rosselló, then President of the party, still vouched for a "vote of punishment" against the Senators, which he called "traitors".[1]

Candidates

Governor

Resident Commissioner

At-large

District

The New Progressive Party held primaries on all 8 of the senatorial districts.

At-large

District

The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 30 of the 40 representative districts.

Mayors

The New Progressive Party held primaries in 34 of 78 municipalities.

Results

The primaries were held on March 9, 2008. In it, Fortuño comfortably defeated Rosselló to win the spot for Governor at the 2008 elections.[2] Also, Pedro Pierluisi defeated Charlie Rodríguez and Miriam Ramírez de Ferrer with 60% of the votes to win the spot for Resident Commissioner.[3]

Governor
Candidate Popular vote Percentage
Luis Fortuño 445,026 59.21%
Pedro Rosselló 306,590 40.79%
Others 49 0.01%

Resident Commissioner
Candidate Popular vote Percentage
Pedro Pierluisi 440,672 59.59%
Charlie Rodríguez 248,127 33.56%
Miriam Ramírez de Ferrer 50,590 6.84%
Others 64 0.01%

At-large
Candidate Popular vote Percentage
Norma Burgos 421,139 11.37%
Thomas Rivera Schatz 410,474 11.08%
Margarita Nolasco 307,723 8.31%
Jorge de Castro Font 278,733 7.53%
Lucy Arce 228,360 6.17%
Itzamar Peña Ramírez 219,524 5.93
Henry Neumann 208,535 5.63%
Oreste Ramos 203,051 5.48%
Abid Quiñones 179,890 4.86%
José Garriga Picó 169,485 4.58%
William Villafañe 162,918 4.40%
Reynaldo Paniagua 144,668 3.91%
Luis Batista Salas 102,479 2.77%
Tito Maldonado 93,097 2.51%
Roger Iglesias 85,859 2.32%
Wanda Aponte 85,115 2.30%
Cristóbal Berríos 77,053 2.08%
Roberto Carlos Mejill 69,036 1.86%
Luz M. "Tuty" Silva 64,171 1.73%
Orlando José Rivera Sepúlveda 59,311 1.60%
Manuel de Jesús 51,594 1.39%
Santos Ramos Lugo 50,373 1.36%
Luis Oscar Casillas González 29,253 0.79%
Others 1,382 0.04%

District

At-large
Candidate Popular vote Percentage
Jennifer González 404,852 11.24%
Iris Miriam Ruíz 370,123 10.27%
Lourdes Ramos 354,358 9.84%
José Aponte 343,915 9.55%
Rolando Crespo 280,263 7.78%
José Chico 275,371 7.64
Jaime Irizarry 254,626 7.07%
Nicolás Muñoz 246,449 6.84%
Félix Vega Fournier 206,695 5.74%
Soraya 194,496 5.40%
Angel Cortés 184,346 5.12%
José Torres Zamora 163,159 4.53%
Aixa Martinó 157,830 4.38%
Julio Lebrón Lamboy 124,520 3.46%
Italo Costa Corsi 41,308 1.15%
Others 233 0.01%

District

Aftermath

Members of PPD voting

During and after the primaries, members of the New Progressive Party (PNP), like Senator Norma Burgos, claimed they saw voters affiliated with the opposing Popular Democratic Party (PPD) voting in the PNP ballots.[4] Also, Maritza Vázquez, Electoral Commissioner of PPD representative Conny Varela, admitted in 2010 that "thousands of 'populares' voted on that election'".[5] Some of the supporters of Rosselló maintain that this "crossover" was crucial in Pedro Rosselló's defeat against Luis Fortuño.

Rosselló "Write-In" campaign

As a result of Rosselló's loss in the primaries, a group of his supporters started a campaign to have him elected through "Write-in" voting.

The fate of the "Auténticos"

Despite Rosselló's call for a "vote of punishment" against the "Auténticos", all but one of the eligible candidates from that faction were elected in the primaries. Carlos Díaz was edged out of the election race by Senators Roberto Arango and Kimmey Raschke. Migdalia Padilla, Lucy Arce, and Jorge de Castro Font were all elected. Kenneth McClintock had decided not to run for Senate, while Orlando Parga refused to return to the party after his expulsion, and started an independent campaign.

See also

References
  1. Apuesta Rosselló al voto de castigo on El Nuevo Día (January 3, 2008)
  2. Primarias 2008: Escrutinio General - Gobernador Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine on CEEPUR
  3. Primarias 2008: Escrutinio General - Comisionado Residente Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine on CEEPUR
  4. Gobernador da las gracias por rechazo a Rosselló on NoticiasOnline; Banuchi, Rebecca (3/10/2008)
  5. Conny usará ejército de abogados para que estadistas voten on El Nuevo Día (August 5, 2010)
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