Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell- signed into law a bill for a June referendum on Puerto Rico's political status.
The June 11 referendum would ask voters if they supported Puerto Rico becoming a state or a country independent of the United States of America. If the latter option picked up the most votes, an Oct. 8 referendum would be held between maintaining some sort of association with the U.S.A. and being completely unconnected.
Puerto Rico's two main parties are the New Progressive Party, which supports statehood, and the Popular Democratic Party, which supports something similar to the way things have been since the late 1940s, when the island was given self-governance. The NPP currently has the governorship and a majority in both legislative houses.
The PDP and the Puerto Rico Independence Party legislators voted against the planned referendum, saying the options and ballot language are flawed.
Puerto Rico has had several referendums on its status over the last several decades. The last one was in November 2012, in which voters were asked two questions. In the first, 54% voted against continuing the island's current self-governing commonwealth status. In a second question concerning what they thought should replace the commonwealth, 61% voted in favor of statehood. This was the first time a majority of voters voted in favor of a state.
Some members of the PDP have said that many voters chose not to make an election to the second question and that the language of the ballot, which was approved by the then in-control NPP, was biased against continuing the current commonwealth status.
In a written statement from Rossell-, Puerto Rico House of Representatives President Carlos Méndez said, "The colonial situation that currently defines Puerto Rico has deprived Puerto Ricans of participating fully in the federal government, of voting for the president of the United States, of electing representatives with a say and vote in the federal congress, and of receiving equal treatment in opportunities that strengthen socio-economic development and quality of life."
