The 2008 Popular Democratic Party primaries were the primary elections by which voters of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) chose its nominees for various political offices of Puerto Rico for the 2008 general elections. They were held on March 9, 2008. Incumbent Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá faced no opposition for his candidacy, making him the official candidate for the elections.
Background
At the time of the primaries, incumbent Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was allegedly being investigated by federal authorities for allegations of irregularities in his campaign finances. However, despite this, the party supported his candidacy for Governor.
Also, one of the most contested campaigns was the one for Mayor of Ponce, with incumbent Francisco Zayas Seijo facing the former administrator of the city, Carlos Jirau.
Candidates
Senate
At-large
Eduardo Bhatia Juan Cancel Alegría Víctor de la Cruz Landy Fabre Antonio Fas Alzamora Alejandro García Padilla
Sila Mari González Calderón Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral Rafael Irizarri Margarita Ostolaza Cirilo Tirado Rivera Roberto Vigoreaux
District The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on only 4 of the 8 senatorial districts.
Arecibo Wanda Arroyo Javier Cruz María Elena Edgar A. Martínez Francis Rivera Iván Serrano Cordero
Mayagüez-Aguadilla Robin H. Montes Sergio Ortíz Omar Soto Enid Toro de Báez
Ponce Modesto Agosto Alicea José Luis Galarza Bruno Ramos José H. Rivera Rafael Santiago
Guayama Luis Guillermo Febus Eder Ortíz Ortíz Angel M. Rodríguez
House of Representatives
At-large
Jorge Colberg Toro Ulises Dalmau Héctor Ferrer Brenda López de Arrarás Jeanette Miranda Julio Muñoz Angel Ortíz
Jaime Perelló Coco Ríos Frankie Rodríguez Ramón Ruíz Nieves José Segui Luis Vega Ramos Carmen Yulín Cruz
District The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 24 of the 40 representative districts.
District 3 Ruthy Currás Herminio Pagán
District 11 Ricky Arrillaga Rafael Hernández
District 12 Jorge Avilés Eliezer Burgos Claudio Ferrer, Jr. Remberto Rodríguez
District 13 Benny Collazo Felix Pagán Víctor Rodríguez Amadis Ulises
District 14 Vángelo Figueroa Felix Rosario Juan R. Torres
District 16 Tony Rodríguez Juan Vega Salamanca
District 17 Moisés Acevedo Armando Franco Alfredo González Héctor Mol Ibañez
District 18 Luis "Chivita" González Concepción Salas Solá María Vargas
District 20 Elvin Camacho Luis Ramírez Jorgito Ramos Eduardo Rosado
District 21 Naida Mateo Lydia Méndez Silva Rafy Nazario
District 22 Juan O. Alicea Georgie González
District 23 Wilo Beltrán Rafael A. García
District 24 Ramón Borrero Luis Farinacci Vilma Flores Ferdinand Martínez Vangie Rivera
District 25 Edgar Manolo Avilés Jorge Miranda Piro Reyes Víctor Vassallo
District 26 John Avilés Juan Carlos Figueroa Gamalier Pagán
District 27 Carmen Iris González Carlos Luis Torres Pito Torres
District 28 Jorge I. Agosto Frankie Cuadrado Remesal Rosendo Luis Santiago
District 29 Félix Agosto Heric Colón José R. Varela
District 30 Rey Alomar Eduardo Cintrón Migdalia Díaz Domingo Torres
District 33 Héctor Carrasquillo Gilbert
District 34 George Soto Juan Pedro
District 35 Narden Jaime Espinosa Ricardo Fernández Freddy José Pi Báez José "Tony" Reyes Valentín Valdés William Vázquez
District 36 Ricky Abreu Andújar
District 37 José Miguel del Valle, Jr. Frankie Guerra
Mayors The Popular Democratic Party held primaries on 23 of 78 municipalities.
Arecibo Ramón E. Dasta Héctor Rafael
Arroyo Eric Bachier Román Ricardo Rivera
Canóvanas Moisés Castro Jesús Rosado
Cataño Félix Fuentes José Rosario
Ceiba Gilberto "Lex" Camacho Humberto González Abimael Portalatín
Culebra Alexis Bermúdez Digna Feliciana
Fajardo Myrna García Norma Guzmán
Florida Johnny de León Yonatan
Humacao Joel Rosario Marcelo Trujillo
Juana Díaz Luis Angel Cortés Ramón Hernández Torres
Lajas César Corales Marcos "Turin" Irizarry Ambrosio Rodríguez
Lares Chely Rigo Guilloty
Las Marías Reinaldo González José Javier Rodríguez
Las Piedras Nelson Vázquez Roberto Velázquez
Loíza Julito Osorio Maricruz Rivera
Moca Wilson Acevedo Aida E. González
Naranjito Manuel Martínez Moncho Padilla Víctor Manuel Pérez Cheo Rivera Jolly Rivera
Ponce Carlos Jirau Francisco Zayas Seijo
Rincón Juan D. Elías Carlos López Bonilla
Salinas Tony Badé Francisco Colón Abraham López Pedro Santos
Trujillo Alto José Luis Cruz Cruz Hiram
Utuado Jesús Arce Ramón Collazo Martín Negrón Otilio Plaza Quitín
Vieques Víctor Emeric Dámaso Serrano
Results
Senate
At-large Candidate Popular vote Percentage Alejandro García Padilla 213,153 14.40% Eduardo Bhatia 207,883 14.04 Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral 167,088 11.28 Sila Mari González Calderón 151,550 10.24 Antonio Fas Alzamora 133,161 8.99 Cirilo Tirado Rivera 124,593 8.41 Roberto Vigoreaux 117,731 7.95 Margarita Ostolaza 113,663 7.68 Juan Cancel Alegría 104,373 7.05 Landy Fabre 84,410 5.70 Rafael Irizarri 35,284 2.38 Víctor de la Cruz 27,408 1.85 Others 350 0.02
District
Arecibo
Candidate Popular vote Percentage María Elena Pérez 12,612 21.62% Edgar A. Martínez 11,979 20.54 Iván Serrano 11,415 19.57 Wanda Arroyo 9,771 16.75 Javier Cruz 9,637 16.52 Francis Rivera 2,875 4.93 Others 41 0.07
Mayagüez-Aguadilla
Candidate Popular vote Percentage Sergio Ortíz 21,699 33.43% Enid Toro de Báez 20,434 31.48 Robin H. Montes 11,379 17.53 Omar Soto 11,370 17.51 Others 36 0.06
Ponce
Candidate Popular vote Percentage José Luis Galarza 19,582 23.95% Rafael Santiago 17,968 21.98 Modesto Agosto Alicea 15,676 19.17 Bruno Ramos 15,621 19.10 José H. Rivera 12,848 15.71 Others 70 0.09
Guayama
Candidate Popular vote Percentage Angel M. Rodríguez 29,611 37.64% Eder Ortíz Ortíz 28,736 36.53 Luis Guillermo Febus 20,284 25.79 Others 33 0.04
House of Representatives
At-large Candidate Popular vote Percentage Héctor Ferrer 228,098 15.81% Jaime Perelló 147,868 10.25 Brenda López de Arrarás 144,099 9.99 Jorge Colberg Toro 140,158 9.72 Carmen Yulín Cruz 133,510 9.26 Luis Vega Ramos 132,967 9.22 Ulises Dalmau 101,060 7.01 Ramón Ruíz Nieves 87,298 6.05 Angel Ortíz 75,671 5.25 Julio Muñoz 68,955 4.78 Jeanette Miranda 59,316 4.11 José Segui 50,458 3.50 Frankie Rodríguez 39,007 2.70 Coco Ríos 33,622 2.33 Others 392 0.03
Aftermath
Acevedo Vilá's candidacy
Several weeks after the primaries, Incumbent Governor and PPD candidate, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, was officially indicted on 19 counts of campaign finance violations. This put his candidacy in jeopardy, and several candidates where taunted as possible replacements. However, Acevedo Vilá decided to run for reelection, and was openly endorsed by the Party in a massive caucus held at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in April 2008.Asamblea ratifica candidatura del Gobernador on Primera Hora; Rivera, Manuel (April 27, 2008)No se quita on El Nuevo Día; Associated Press (April 27, 2008) Acevedo Vilá would lose the 2008 general elections. However, in March 2009, he was found not guilty of all charges by a jury.
Split in Ponce
In the primary for the Mayor of Ponce, incumbent Francisco Zayas Seijo narrowly beat his opponent, former Ponce administrator, Carlos Jirau. Zayas beat Jirau by less than 30 votes.Primarias 2008: Resultados Ponce on CEEPUR After the defeat, Jirau appealed the primary claiming there were irregularities in the process. He also started an independent movement called Movimiento Autónomo Ponceño.Ico Zayas: "la bola esta en la cancha de Jirau" on El Nuevo Día (May 12, 2008)"Ico" le tira a "Mayita" y pide unidad a Jirau on Primera Hora; Estrada, Michelle (August 29, 2008) At the 2008 general elections, both Zayas and Jirau were defeated by the PNP candidate Mayita Meléndez. This was the first time a PNP candidate had won in Ponce in more than 20 years.“Mayita no ganó, Ico Zayas perdió” on El Nuevo Día (November 6, 2008)
See also
New Progressive Party primaries, 2008
References