Puerto Rico Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Political parties and elections=== {{main|Political party strength in Puerto Rico}} [[File:Political-party-strength-in-puerto-rico-2012.png|thumb|right|The difference between the incumbent party, the PPD, and its opponent, the PNP, was a mere 0.6% in the last election. This difference is common as the political landscape experiences political cycles between both parties, with the PPD ruling all branches of government for 36 of the past 64 years. The PNP, on the other hand, has ruled both the executive and legislative branch concurrently for 16 years. The other 12 years experienced a [[Divided government in the United States|divided government]].]] Since 1952, Puerto Rico has had three main political parties: the [[Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico)|Popular Democratic Party]] (PPD in Spanish), the [[New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico)|New Progressive Party]] (PNP in Spanish) and the [[Puerto Rican Independence Party]] (PIP). The three parties stand for different political status. The PPD, for example, seeks [[status quo movement in Puerto Rico|to maintain the island's status with the U.S. as a commonwealth]], while the PNP, on the other hand, seeks [[statehood movement in Puerto Rico|to make Puerto Rico a state of the United States]]. The PIP, in contrast, seeks a complete separation from the United States by seeking [[independence movement in Puerto Rico|to make Puerto Rico a sovereign nation]]. In terms of party strength, the PPD and PNP usually hold about 47% of the vote each while the PIP holds about 5%. After 2007, other parties emerged on the island. The first, the [[Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party]] (PPR in Spanish) was registered that same year. The party claims that it seeks to address the islands' problems from a status-neutral platform. But it ceased to remain as a registered party when it failed to obtain the required number of votes in the 2008 general election. Four years later, the 2012 election saw the emergence of the [[Movimiento Unión Soberanista]] (MUS; English: ''Sovereign Union Movement'') and the [[Partido del Pueblo Trabajador]] (PPT; English: ''Working People's Party'') but none obtained more than 1% of the vote. Other non-registered parties include the [[Puerto Rican Nationalist Party]], the [[Socialist Workers Movement (Puerto Rico)|Socialist Workers Movement]], and the [[Hostosian National Independence Movement]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page