Puerto Rico primary

Friday, April 11

While they will not be allowed a direct vote, Puerto Ricans are likely to exert unusually large influence on US presidential politics. The island's Democratic Party primary will be held at the end of the sequence, on June 1. Some 800,000 voters are likely to register:

• While normally the contest is settled by the time Puerto Rico votes, the island has 72 delegates (including seven super-delegates) in the Democratic convention, which could prove decisive given the close contest between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
• Given the high turnout typical of island elections, it could also affect the balance of the national popular vote.

Puerto Rican politicians align themselves with Democratic candidates more in accordance with their estimates of probable advantage for their faction relative to local rivals than on the basis of candidates' merits as presidential contenders, or benefactors of Puerto Rico. Therefore, the division of support between Obama and Clinton does not map closely onto the split between the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP) and the 'status quo' Popular Democratic Party (PPD).