Puerto Rican status referendum, 2012
On November 6, 2012, a referendum on the political status of the area took place in Puerto Rico. The vote coincided with the U.S. presidential election, the election to the House of Representatives and gubernatorial elections in eleven U.S. states. Similar referendums have been held several times. In the previous three referenda to the voters were in favor of the status quo, which states that the island is an unincorporated territory of the United States of America, thus neither its own U.S. state represents yet another of the 50 U.S. states belongs.
In the referendum in 2012 voted 53.99 % voters for a change of status. 61.15 % of voters were in favor of in the event of a change of status for a federal state. However, around half a million voters completed the questions on the referendum is not enough.
On December 11, 2012, the Puerto Rican government established on behalf of the voters a petition to the government in Washington, with the aim that the island has its own U.S. state is.
In the event that the U.S. Congress does not take the non-binding outcome of the referendum as an opportunity to make Puerto Rico the 51st state, handed the ( non-voting ) delegates in Puerto Rico in the U.S. House of Representatives, Pedro Pierluisi, on 15 May 2013 a resolution in a House of Representatives. The Puerto Rico Status Act provides resolution to conduct a plebiscite with binding for the relevant U.S. institutions effect (unlike the non-binding referendum in 2012 ) in Puerto Rico. In this survey it is to go solely and unequivocally to the question of whether Puerto Rico should become a state. The prospects that the U.S. Congress makes Puerto Rico as a direct result of the referendum of 2012 as the 51st state, remain unaffected by this parallel initiative.
Background
Similar referendums have already taken place more than once, in 1967, 1993 and 1998. In the previous three referendums, citizens of Puerto Rico spoke ( with 60.4 %, 48.6 % and 50.5 %) for the status quo of.
In June 2011, the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations urged the United States to advance the process of the self-determination on the political status of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico, is different than other areas of the United States such as Guam, American Samoa or the U.S. Virgin Islands, no. On the list of non - self -managing areas of the United Nations Nevertheless, it is not a state and the citizens do not have the right to full representation in the U.S. Congress. All persons born on the island automatically a citizen of the United States. Nevertheless, they are not entitled to vote in the U.S. presidential election, they should stay at the time of election in Puerto Rico.
On December 28, 2011 authorized Governor Luis Fortuño planned for the November 6, 2012 referendum.
Questions of the referendum
The referendum itself consisted of two independent questions. Thus, voters were asked whether they want to let the status quo continue, in the second question, the preference of citizens on a future alternative status was queried. The voters had three response options: they can vote that the island should become a U.S. state that complete independence or that a free association with the United States is to be sought.