Puerto Ricans Back Commonwealth Ties

Supporters of making Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state refused to concede defeat after a referendum Sunday was won by backers of the Caribbean island’s existing commonwealth ties to the United States.

Final results showed that 50.2% voted for the “none of the above” option adopted by the commonwealth party, while statehood had 46.5%. In a similar nonbinding referendum in 1993, commonwealth status beat out statehood by 49% to 46%.

President Clinton has asked Congress to abide by the result of the referendum, but it was unclear what kind of message a “none of the above” victory would send to Congress. Most likely, there will be a bitter and prolonged argument over interpreting the result.

The commonwealth party had urged a “none of the above” vote because it objected to the ballot’s commonwealth description, which was written by the statehood party and suggests Congress could revoke Puerto Ricans’ U.S. citizenship.

Regardless of the numbers, pro-statehood Gov. Pedro Rossello insisted his cause had won, arguing that almost all people who voted for an actual status definition supported statehood. He said he would use that interpretation to petition Congress to make Puerto Rico a state.

“Today the people spoke, and they said statehood is the future of Puerto Rico. The people spoke, and I will obey,” Rossello told thousands of cheering supporters.

Pro-commonwealth Sen. Eudaldo Baez Galib countered: “If they go to Washington with a petition for statehood . . . , they would be violating the right to vote of the majority.”

Under commonwealth status, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory with local autonomy. Its 3.8 million residents can’t vote for president or Congress, which alone can change Puerto Rico’s political status.

Voters trying to resolve the century-long debate on whether that status ought to be changed also had the choices of independence or a “free association” form of independence with U.S. treaty ties. Those options and a commonwealth as defined on the ballot garnered less than 4% of the vote.

Seventy percent of 2.2 million registered voters participated, the election commission said.