By: Rocio Gonzalez, VOXXI
Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño is not giving up so easily. While his political opponent, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, is already putting into action his plans to take over, outgoing governor Fortuño is now asking for a recount.
On Tuesday, Fortuño asked the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission to recount the votes in the governor’s race, after the final results -- revealed on Saturday -- showed that his opponent, Garcia Padilla, won by 12,971 votes, with 47.78 percent of the vote, versus Fortuño's 47.09 percent.
Garcia Padilla's party, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), insists that there is no way a recount would take place.
Puerto Rico's electoral code dictates that a recount should take place when there is a 0.5 percent difference between candidates after a petition is filed from one of the candidates in question. The difference between Fortuño and Garcia Padilla is of 0.69 percent.
Fortuno Asks For Recount
According to Puerto Rican daily newspaper El Nuevo Dia, Fortuño's letter was sent to the president of the State Elections Commission, Hector Conty, on Tuesday afternoon, and asked him to take into account write-in votes that are yet to be counted.
"I was informed by our electoral commissioner that, with a number of write-in votes still remaining and estimated at 20,000, which are yet to be verified, counted and included, whatever the case is, the trend observed so far in the candidacy for governor indicates that, provided it continues, the point-five percent (0.5%) difference referred to in Article 10.010, quoted, will probably be reached," the letter read.
As Fortuño refuses to go gently into that good night, some are criticizing him and his team for putting into question results that seem clear, albeit close.
"Mr. Edwin Mundo [electoral commissioner for Fortuño's New Progressive Party] has to accept, once and for all, that in January there will be a change in government, and he should not continue to alarm and trying to create confusion,” Eder Ortiz, electoral commissioner for the PPD, told CyberNews.
Originally published by VOXXI as “Defeated Gov. Luis Fortuno asks for recount in Puerto Rico governor race"