Puerto Rican general election, 2004

Infobox Election
election_name = Puerto Rican general election, 2004
country = Puerto Rico
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = Puerto Rican general election, 2000
previous_year = 2000
next_election = Puerto Rican general election, 2008
next_year = 2008
election_date = 2 November 2004

nominee1 = Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
party1 = Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
popular_vote1 = 953,459
percentage1 = 48.4%

nominee2 =Pedro Rosselló
party2 = New Progressive Party
popular_vote2 = 949,579
percentage2 = 48.2%

nominee3 = Rubén Berríos
party3 = Puerto Rican Independence Party
popular_vote3 = 52,660
percentage3 = 2.7%

title = Governor
before_election = Pedro Rosselló
before_party = New Progressive Party
after_election = Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
after_party = Popular Democratic Party of Puerto RicoThe 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. Fact|date=February 2007

Candidates for Governor

* Anibal Acevedo Vila for the Popular Democratic Party
* Pedro Rosello for the New Progressive Party
* Ruben Berrios for the Puerto Rican Independence Party

Candidates for Resident Commissioner

* Edwin Irizarry Mora for the Puerto Rican Independence Party
* Luis Fortuño for the New Progressive Party
* Roberto Prats for the Popular Democratic Party

Results

Results were announced by the State Commission of Elections (CEE-PUR) on November 2–3, 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.

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.

Governor

House of Representatives

References

# "2004 General Elections". [http://www.ceepur.org/ State Commission of Elections of Puerto Rico] . San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 3, 2004.
# [http://www.endi.com/elecciones2004/noticia.asp?newsid=3DC2C262-908F-45EF-A14A-6B0BAC2ABB57 CEE preliminarily certifies Acevedo Vilá and Fortuño] . San Juan, Puerto Rico: "El Nuevo Día". November 3, 2004.

External links

* [http://www.ceepur.org State Commission of Elections of Puerto Rico] - official site (in Spanish)