2016 Puerto Rican general election

Before the election year, the Constitution of Puerto Rico provides for any qualified person to present their candidacy for a specific position. If two or more candidates from the same party present their candidacy for the same position, and they can't reach an agreement within the party, a primary election is held. This election is held within the inscribed members of each party, to select which of the candidates will represent the party in the general election.

Both of the main parties: New Progressive Party (PNP) and Popular Democratic Party (PPD), held primaries for several positions on June 5, 2016.

The primaries were held on June 5, 2016 to determine candidates for Governor of Puerto Rico, the Senate, House of Representatives, and others.

The primaries were held on June 5, 2016 to determine several candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives, and others.

Two minor parties officialized their gubernatorial candidates. The Working People's Party (PPT) nominated Rafael Bernabe once again.[1] The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) nominated María de Lourdes Santiago.

As of November 2015, two independent candidates expressed their interest in running for Governor:

• Alexandra Lúgaro, attorney[2]
• Manuel Cidre, businessman[3]

The official candidates for the position of Governor of Puerto Rico are:

• David Bernier, Popular Democratic Party (PPD)
• Ricky Rosselló, New Progressive Party (PNP)
• María de Lourdes Santiago, Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP)
• Rafael Bernabe Riefkohl, Working People's Party of Puerto Rico (PPT)
• Alexandra Lúgaro, Independent candidate
• Manuel Cidre, Independent candidate

The official candidates for the position of Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico are:

• Héctor Ferrer, Popular Democratic Party (PPD)
• Jenniffer González, New Progressive Party (PNP)
• Hugo Rodríguez, Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP)
• Mariana Nogales, Working People's Party of Puerto Rico (PPT)

The ballot featured sixteen (16) candidates from four different parties and one independent candidate (bold denotes incumbent candidates)

The ballot featured sixteen (16) candidates from four different parties (bold denotes incumbent candidates)

The candidate from the New Progressive Party (PNP) Ricky Rosselló beat the candidate from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) David Bernier obtaining 41.76% of the votes against 38.92% for Bernier. Most notably, the two independent candidates – Alexandra Lúgaro and Manuel Cidre – managed to arrive in third and fourth place with 11.12% and 5.73% respectively. For the fourth election in a row, the candidate of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) failed to receive the required 3% of the votes to remain registered. The same result happened to Rafael Bernabe from the Working People's Party (PPT) for the second election in a row.

Summary of the 8 November 2016 Puerto Rican Senate election

Parties		District			At-large			Total seats	Composition	±
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	New Progressive Party (PNP)	1,440,050	50.4	15	664,553	45.3	6	21	21 / 30	13
	Popular Democratic Party (PPD)	1,210,903	42.4	1	503,630	34.3	6	7	7 / 30	11
	Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP)	150,904	5.3	0	130,583	8.9	1	1	1 / 30	1
	Working People's Party (PPT)	53,335	1.9	0	9,957	0.7	0	0	0 / 30	0
	Independents	0	0.0	0	157,788	10.8	1	1	1 / 30	1
Total		2,855,192	100.0	16	1,466,511	100.0	14	30
Source: CEEPUR

The numbers of legislators in this senate increased from 27 to 30, because the New Progressive Party (PNP) won 21 of the 27 seats in contention, surpassing the two-thirds limit (18 seats). This automatically triggered Article Three of the Constitution of Puerto Rico which mandates that in such case new seats must be open for minority legislators. These new seats account for the number of seats the majority party surpassed (3 seats in this election).

Despite losing most of the Senate and the House, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) managed to win a majority of the mayoralty races in the island, with a total of 45 out of 78 municipalities. The New Progressive Party (PNP) won a total of 33.[4]