Author: Amy Thornbury
APPENDIX A
MAJOR PUERTO RICAN POLITICAL PARTIES
PNP Partido Nuevo Progresista (New Progressive Party or estadistas ). Founded in
1968 by Luis A. Ferré following the 1967 status plebiscite from a split in the
long standingRepublicano Party. In favor of statehood for Puerto Rico, the party
has always been associated with the U. S. Republican Party. PNP governors were
in office from 1968 to1972 and from 1976 to 1984. Some members favor
immediate statehood, others want it delayed.
PER Partido Estadista Republicano (Statehood Republican Party or estadistas ). Adopting this name in 1953, the perennially pro-statehood party's roots stemmed back to the Republican Party founded by José Celso Barbosa in 1899. Forming a Coalition with the Socialist Party in the 1920s and 1930s, the joint forces enjoyed the majority in the Puerto Rico legislature from 1932 to 1940 and made serious efforts toward statehood. The party dissolved after the 1968 elections.
PPD Partido Popular Democrático (Popular Democratic Party or populares ).
Established by Luis Muñoz Marín in 1938, the party, favoring association with the
U. S. but not incorporation as a state, virtually monopolized Puerto Rican politics
from 1940 until1968. Muñoz served as the island's governor from 1948 to 1964
and was instrumental in the establishment of Puerto Rico's current status,
Commonwealth. PPD governor Hernández Colón won the elections of 1972 and 1984. In the 1980s, populares are divided into those who believe Commonwealth should remain as it is, those who desire improvements in Commonwealth, and those who advocate a new form of status, namely Free Association.
PIP Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Independence Party, or
independentistas ). Rubén Berríos Martínez is currently the leader of this party
which was founded in 1946. The party seeks peaceful independence from the U. S.
Socialista Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Socialist Party). Presently led by
Juan Marí Bras, this party was established in 1972 to promote independence for Puerto Rico following the Cuban revolutionary model. Its advocacy of terrorism is reminiscent of Pedro Albizu Campos's Nationalist Party which existed from the
1920s until the 1950s.
APPENDIX B
ELECTION RESULTS, 1940-1980
Year Pro-Statehood Pro-Commonwealth Pro-Independence Other
1940 39.1% 37.8% -- 23.1%A
1944 28.7 64.8 -- 6.5B
1948 24.1 61.4 10.2 4.5B
1952 16.1 64.9 19.0 --
1956 25.0 62.5 12.5 --
1960 32.1 58.2 3.1 6.6C
1964 34.7 59.4 2.7 3.2C
1968 43.6 40.7 4.0 11.7D
1972 43.4 50.7 5.4 0.5
1976 48.3 45.3 5.7 0.7
1980 47.3 47.1 5.1 0.5
NOTES:
A Votes obtained by pro-statehood Unificacíon Tripartita Puertorriqueña.
B Votes obtained by Liberal Party.
C Votes obtained by Christian Action Party.
D Votes obtained by People's Party under former PPD governor Roberto Sánchez Villela.
(SOURCES: Official electoral statistics as found in Heine, pp. 7-8; Anderson, pp. 42-43; García-Passalacqua, p. 109, and Operations and Policy Research, Inc., pp. 31-33.)
APPENDIX C
PNP-PPD VOTES BY MUNICIPALITY, 1968-1976
1968 1972 1976
PNP% PPD% PNP% PPD% PNP% PPD%
San Juan 51.7 32.2 48.1 44.6 52.4 38.9
Bayamón 49.7 35.3 44.8 48.9 50.1 42.2
Cataño 55.3 29.7 50.2 43.5 55.8 37.4
Guaynabo 50.4 34.4 48.2 46.2 53.6 39.7
Carolina 46.8 36.1 44.1 50.0 51.3 40.9
Ponce 45.6 28.3 49.2 45.9 52.2 40.8
Mayagüez 38.1 40.9 40.2 54.3 45.5 47.6
Totals 49.0 33.4 46.8 46.7 51.5 40.7
(SOURCE: Heine, p. 10)
and Operations and Policy Research, Inc., pp. 31-33.)
APPENDIX C
PNP-PPD VOTES BY MUNICIPALITY,
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