By The Star Staff
At-large Rep. José Aponte Hernández this week celebrated the triumph of the statehood option in the Election Day status consultation, which with 91.35% of the vote counted had won 56.82% (528,379 votes).
The veteran pro-statehood lawmaker also insisted that Pablo José Hernández Rivera, who is on track to become Puerto Rico’s next resident commissioner, work in Congress in favor of statehood, as mandated by island voters.
“My career in public service has been focused on achieving the equality of rights for the U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico,” said the former speaker of the island House of Representatives in a written statement. “This can only be achieved through statehood. Yesterday (Tuesday), the People, the sovereign in the democratic system that we have, spoke loud and clear. With the expression of yesterday, the mandates of 2012, 2017 and 2020 were repeated so that the colonial problem is resolved in Congress.”
According to State Elections Commission data, the option of independence achieved 30.85% of the vote while free association received 12.3%.
“These numbers reflect an unquestionable reality, that support for statehood is the majority and in a democracy the majority prevails,” Aponte said. “It corresponds to all the elected officials, including the Resident Commissioner in Washington, to execute the mandate that the People of Puerto Rico expressed yesterday in the polls.”
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