Meanwhile, Vázquez called the situation “a disaster” and demanded the dismissal of the president of the election commission.
“They made the people of Puerto Rico, not the candidates, think they were ready,” she said. ‘Today, the opposite was clear. They left. ”
The president of her party, Thomas Rivera Schatz, together with the president of the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, held a joint press conference and said they agreed that the remaining primaries should be held on August 16, a movement that Vázquez said she was supportive. The two parties will both hold their primary elections with the winning nominees among six candidates in the November general election.
Other politicians claimed that the entire primary would be scrapped and held on another date.
An unbelievable Treasurer noted that there were still trucks with ballot papers parked inside at the commission’s headquarters when they spoke there.
“The question is, why are they not gone?” he said.
A spokeswoman for the commission said officials were not immediately available for comment.
To complicate matters, Edgardo Román, president of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, told The Associated Press that it is unclear which alternatives are legally viable because the island’s election law is unclear.
“It does not consider this scenario,” he said.
Hundreds of frustrated voters who wore the required face masks and brought a spike in COVID-19 cases were turned away from centers in Puerto Rico because officials told them no ballots were available.
The situation angered voters and politicians of all constituencies as they accused the Puerto Rican Electoral Commission and demanded a statement for votes that reached only a handful of polling stations by noon.
“This is embarrassing, abusive and an attempt against the democracy of our country,” said Marcos Cruz, mayor of the northern city of Vega Baja who was still waiting for votes.
Meanwhile, officials from the island’s two main parties scrambled to find solutions as they urged voters to still look in centers that remained open.
Yadira Pizarro, a 44-year-old teacher, ran out of patience at a closed polling station in Carolina, where she had waited more than four hours under a blazing sun.
“I can not believe this. This is some serious negligence,” she said.
One of the most-attended races on Sunday is that of the pro-statehood Progressive New Party, which pitched two candidates who served as replacement leaders after last year’s political unrest. Vázquez represents Pierluisi, who represented Puerto Rico in Congress from 2009 to 2017.
Pierluisi served briefly as governor after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned in August 2019 after widespread street protests over a lousy conversation that was leaked and government corruption. But the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ruled that Vázquez, then the secretary of justice, was constitutionally next to the rule because there was no secretary of state.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which supports Puerto Rico’s current political status as American territory, is holding a primary for the first time in its 82-year history. Three people are fighting to become governor – San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, known for her public talks with US President Donald Trump after the devastation of Hurricane Maria; Puerto Rico Sen. Eduardo Bhatia; and Carlos Delgado, Mayor of the Northwest Coast City of Isabela.
