First Circuit says Puerto Rico Supreme Court should rule on disputed ballots in gubernatorial race News
First Circuit says Puerto Rico Supreme Court should rule on disputed ballots in gubernatorial race

[JURIST] The US First Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Boston ruled Wednesday that the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, not the local US District Court in San Juan, should rule on a case concerning disputed ballots in the territory's November gubernatorial election. The ruling makes it likely that the winner will be pro-status quo Popular Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Anibal Acevedo Vila, who had been declared in winner after a count that had included so-called double-split ballots marked for one party but favoring different party candidates for governor and resident commissioner (analogous to a Congressman for the territory). Vila's opponent, pro-statehood New Progressive Party (NPP) candidate, Pedro Rossello, a former two-term governor, had opposed the counting of those ballots. The case has been remanded. Read the opinion here. Reuters has more.

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