In an official referendum called by the Puerto Rican government, 61.82% of Puerto Ricans voted in favour of becoming the United States’ 51st state.

The two other options on the ballot were to maintain their actual status as an unincorporated territory of the United States, or independence; these options respectively got 32.89% and 5.29% of the vote.

Puerto Rico Capitol in San Juan (Wikimedia)

Although the United States Congress must approve any change to Puerto Rico’s status, President Barack Obama has publicly supported the referendum and pledged that he would respect the will of Puerto Ricans if there was a clear majority.

The referendum’s first question was whether Puerto Ricans were satisfied with the current political status of the island, to which 53.83% answered no.

Puerto Rico is officially part of the United States since 1898’s Spanish-American war; up until then, it had been part of Spain’s territory. Since 1917 people born in Puerto Rico are granted United States citizenship but are not allowed to vote unless they are residents of one of the 50 US states.

The status of “unincorporated territory” was granted in 1952 and in the three referendums held since then, in 1967, 1993, and 1998, Puerto Ricans had rejected both independence and full state membership. Puerto Rico’s status has been controversial throughout the 20th century. Despite having restricted rights they have been subject to duties such as military service and drafts, effectively fighting wars started by a congress they had no say in.

Governor Elect Alejandro García Padilla (Wikimedia)

The referendum, in which 2.4m were eligible to vote, was held on the same day that the island voted for its governor, in which Alejandro García Padilla, from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) won by a narrow margin. Padilla had said in an interview with Efe recently that he was in favour of maintaining the current political status of the island.

Padilla defeated incumbent governor Luis Fortuño from the New Progressive Party (PNP) that has had a difficult term marked by constant conflict with the Puerto Rican trade unions that led to general strike in 2009. Since his election four years ago the outgoing governor has failed to pick up the island’s economy with unemployment at 15%, while an increase in drug trafficking-related violence led to  more than 1,100 deaths in 2011.

Early this morning, Carlos Sonria, the governer of the Río Negro region was shot and died.

The 61-year-old was shot in his farmhouse in the Alto Valle zone, at 4:47am.  According to reports, his death was due to “a firearm home accident”. His wife, Susana Freydoz, is being questioned.

The vice-governor of the Río Negro province, Alberto Weretilneck, will replace him and complete the term until 2015.

Last night before midnight, Sonria said over local radio that: “2012 will be a good year for all people from Rio Negro, regardless if they are radicals, peronists or communists”.

He had only recently been elected the province’s justicialist party leader and had ended 28 years of radical rule in the region.

The Superior Court of Chubut yesterday ruled that elections will be held again in six localities in the province of Chubut. Martín Buzzi, from the Chubut Model party had originally won the election to be provincial governor on 20th March, but the difference was so small with the runner-up, Carlos Eliceche from the Victory Front party, that recounts were called in various areas.

During these recounts, irregularities were found, but judges ruled that these localities would not vote again. This decision was challenged by the Victory Front party, who is supported by the national government, and subsequently overturned. The elections are due to take place on 29th May.

Of the six localities, four are in Comodoro Rivadavia, one is in Puerto Madryn and one is in Camarones. The number of votes to be given will be 1967, only 0.4% of the provincial total, which led current governor, Mario Das Neves to declare that “we have set a dangerous precedent.”

Satisfied with the ruling, Eliceche said that “it was the decision that we were hoping for. It is why we made the presentation. Now we will see if the deadlines are suitable and if the election can be called on 29^th May.”

Buzzi, “ although not in agreement with this ruling”, accepts it. “We will not go to the Supreme Court and we want to bring calmness to the people. We want this election to be concluded as quickly as possible. As we have always said, we are going to look after the voter, it is the most important thing for us,” he said, having learnt that the votes will be held again.

Meanwhile, the Justice is proceeding with the criminal investigation into whether or not there was fraud in March and if so, who was responsible.

After a close election amidst irregularities’ complaints and delays in the diffusion of official results, Martín Buzzi, ruling provincial party and presidential pre-candidate Mario Das Neves’ candidate, won the gubernatorial elections in Chubut. Kirchnerism’s candidate, Carlos Eliceche, announced he “does not recognise the commissions’ outcome” and that the defeat “is not definitive”.

With 98.6% of the polling stations counted, federal peronist Martín Buzzi obtained 37.78% of votes while Carlos Eliceche obtained a close 37.1%. Buzzi’s victory was signed by a meagre difference of 1.551 votes over Eliceche. Pedro Perarlta, Radicalism’s candidate, obtained 11.8% of votes.

Presidential pre-candidate Mario Das Neves, accompanied by representatives Felipe Solá and Francisco De Narváez, stated “our willingness to democratize power has been proved. We said we would deepen our project and we were not wrong. We knew it would be difficult. But this is the first step; this is proves a change is possible”.

Eliceche assured Kirchnerism “will not accept the finalization of commissions. This is not over today, not until every single vote is clarified. We consider these elections were won by Frente para la Victoria”. And he added “we are dubious about commissions’ outcome and believe they have not been transparent enough. We have our own results in the party’s data centre and found 468 contested votes, more than 3,596 votes that appear voided and 15 contested polls”.

In contrast with Catamarca’s gubernatorial elections, Chubut’s government did not enable online consultation of the results’ provisory scrutiny.

Chubut’s elections, though local, showed their national connotation. Eliceche assured that, should he have won, so would have president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Buzzi stated “each vote shortens Das Neves’ journey to presidential elections”.

Motley elections took place. Apart from governor, citizens chose 27 provincial representatives, 27 mayors, more than 250 councillors, three representatives for the Local Judicial Council and three representatives for the Court of Auditors in Comodoro Rivadavia.