Puerto Rican general election, 2004

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Puerto Rico

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The Puerto Rico General Elections of 2004 took place on Election Day, Tuesday, November 2, 2004. After a count by the State Commission of Elections, the winner was inaugurated to a four-year term as Governor of Puerto Rico on January 2, 2005.

The post of Governor of Puerto Rico and the entire House of Representatives and the entire Senate, as well as the Mayors of the municipalities of Puerto Rico, and the Resident Commissioner were also elected for four-year terms.

For the first time in Puerto Rican history, citizens unable to mobilize to voting colleges for medical reasons, but capable of practicing their right to vote, were visited in their own homes and hospitals so that they could exercise their vote.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Candidates for Governor

[edit] Candidates for Resident Commissioner

[edit] Results

Results were announced by the State Commission of Elections (CEE-PUR) on November 23, 2004 after the voting colleges closed on November 2 at 3:00 p.m. AST.

On November 3, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was certified preliminarily as winning for Governor of Puerto Rico, and Luis Fortuño as Resident Commissioner, while the Senate and the House of Representatives was dominated by the New Progressive Party.

[edit] Preliminary results

By 12:00 p.m. of November 3, votes were still being counted. After 1,970,759 votes (98.3% of the total votes) were computed, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was certified preliminarily by the CEE-PUR as the winner for Governor with 3,880 (0.2%) votes of advantage against Pedro Rosselló, and Luis Fortuño as the Resident Commissioner with 9,526 (0.49%) votes of advantage against Roberto Prats.

The preliminary certification was signed by Gerardo Cruz, electoral commissioner of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), Brunilda Ortiz, alternate electoral commissioner of the New Progressive Party (PNP), and Andrés Miranda Rosa, alternate electoral commissioner of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP).

The alternate commissioners were authorized by the electoral commissioners in property of their party, Thomas Rivera Schatz (PNP) and Juan Dalmau (PIP).

However, since the difference between the winning margin for the Governor and Resident Commissioner candidates were less than 0.5% of the total votes, the Puerto Rican electoral laws state that a recount must be performed, and that once this recount is finished, the official winner will be certified by the CEE-PUR. The recount will start on Monday, November 9 as established by law, and must finish by December 31 or earlier.

Once the official winners were announced, they were inaugurated to a four-year term on January 2, 2005.

On a different note, the Puerto Rican Independence Party was unable to reach 3% of the total votes on the preliminary results, putting in risk their franchise as a principal political party by Puerto Rican electoral laws. Because of this, the party may not receive funds from the government of Puerto Rico (consisting of $5 million USD) nor have a separate column in ballot papers on the following elections. However, Maria de Lourdes Santiago became the first woman from that party to be elected Senator in the history of Puerto Rico.

[edit] Governor

Candidate Political party Popular vote Percentage
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá PPD 953,459 48.4%
Pedro Rosselló PNP 949,579 48.2%
Rubén Berríos PIP 52,660 2.7%
Others 15,601 0.8%

[edit] Resident Commissioner

Candidate Political party Popular vote Percentage
Luis Fortuño PNP 947,098 48.52%
Roberto Prats PPD 937,572 48.03%
Edwin Irizarry Mora PIP 55,503 2.84%
Others 11,993 0.61%

[edit] Senate

Category PPD PNP PIP Sub-total
By district 4 12 0 16
By accumulation 4 6 1 11
Total 8 18 1 27
Percentage 29.6% 66.7% 3.7%

[edit] House of Representatives

Category PPD PNP PIP Sub-total
By district 14 26 0 40
By accumulation 4 6 1 11
Total 18 32 1 51
Percentage 35.29% 62.75% 1.96%

[edit] References

  1. "2004 General Elections". State Commission of Elections of Puerto Rico. San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 3, 2004.
  2. CEE preliminarily certifies Acevedo Vilá and Fortuño. San Juan, Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día. November 3, 2004.

[edit] External links