51st state may appear along with new president in November
Puerto Rico November 3 will hold a referendum on joining the United States as 51 states. Writes about it "Observer".
It will take place simultaneously with the US presidential election. This was reported by state governor Wanda Vazquez on his Twitter page.
“It is time for the 3,2 million American citizens living in Puerto Rico to stop being last in line. Full equality,” Vasquez wrote.
Escojamos el camino correcto con igual dignidad y con igual patriotismo. Es el momento de que los 3.2 millones de ciudadanos americanos residentes en Puerto Rico dejen de ser los últimos en la fila. ¡Igualdad plena! pic.twitter.com/gxhg9hJF8h
- Wanda Vázquez Garced (@wandavazquezg) May 16, 2020
The voting form will indicate only one question whether Puerto Rico should be immediately admitted to the United States. The results of the referendum will be approved by the US Congress.
Puerto Rico has its own constitution, legislative, executive and judicial branches. Contact with the United States is common citizenship, currency, and defense, according to Wikipedia.
Due to the lack of a clear legislative base on the status of the territory, this issue is being actively discussed on the island itself, in the USA and the UN. In 2000, by order of President Bill Clinton, a special commission was established on the status of Puerto Rico. In its report, the commission confirmed its current status and recommended that citizens of the island be granted the right to self-determination.
It was assumed that under this procedure, Puerto Ricans would choose one of three options: consolidating their current status, joining the United States as a state, or gaining independence. The relevant bill has been submitted to Congress.
In 2012, a two-stage referendum on the status of Puerto Rico took place. At the first stage, Puerto Ricans spoke out for a change in political status - for which 54% of voters voted. On November 6, 2012, at the second stage of the referendum, which determined the political structure of the country, the conversion of Puerto Rico to the 51st state of the United States was supported by 65% of the voters, and 31% voted to give the archipelago the status of a sovereign associated state in alliance with the United States. Only 4% supported the complete independence of the territory.
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According to other sources, 61,15% of the population voted for joining the United States, 33,31% - for giving the archipelago the status of a sovereign associated state in alliance with the United States, and 5,53% voted for independence.
In 2017, a second referendum on the political status of Puerto Rico took place. The referendum proposed three options: joining the US as a state; freely associated territory or unincorporated organized territory. More than 51% of Puerto Ricans spoke in favor of joining the United States as 97 states, 1,5% in favor of the status of a freely associated state, and 1,32% in favor of maintaining the current status of an unincorporated organized territory. Moreover, the turnout at the referendum was extremely low: the turnout rate was only 23%, in particular, he was boycotted by the People’s Democratic Party, which opposed joining the United States.
At that time, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosello, said that the United States should take into account the results of the referendum and fulfill the will of the citizens of Puerto Rico, however, representatives of the Republican Party of the United States said they would not allow changing the status of Puerto Rico. In addition, the US Department of Justice spoke out against the referendum.
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