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Romney had the endorsement of Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno/AFP

World

Romney scores big win in Puerto Rico primary

Romney had the endorsement of Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno/AFP

SAN JUAN, Mar 19 – Mitt Romney has scored a resounding win in Puerto Rico’s Republican primary, gaining momentum in a usually overlooked race with newfound significance in the hotly contested White House race.

With the final tally in late on Sunday, the former Massachusetts governor won more than 83.4 percent of the vote, according to the State Elections Commission, or CEEPR, in the US territory.

His chief rival Rick Santorum stood a distant second with 7.7 percent. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich had two percent, just ahead of Representative Ron Paul’s 1.1 percent.

Romney claimed victory and said he believes Puerto Ricans want a president with experience creating jobs.

“With a population larger than 22 states, this island contributes in so many ways to the vitality of our country,” he said in a statement. “Working to advance the fortunes of this island, and to better the lives of everyone living here, will be an important goal of my presidency.”

The island off the US mainland has only 20 delegates at stake for the Republican National Convention in August but has been courted vigorously by the Republican contenders in part because the broader US Hispanic vote is seen as crucial to the election outcome.

Given the margin of Romney’s victory, he will receive all the delegates.

The four remaining Republican contenders are trying to reach the magic number of 1,144 delegates to lock up the nomination.
Romney, who was in Puerto Rico early on Saturday and visited a local fruit market, told reporters he was “cautiously optimistic” for a strong showing.

Romney had the endorsement of Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno, who shepherded the candidate through two days of campaign events.

The vote comes two days before Tuesday’s primary in Obama’s adopted state of Illinois, seen as a major election prize for whoever prevails there.

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Using the same strategy he has plied elsewhere, Santorum had hoped to deprive Romney of that outright win by turning out Christian and evangelical supporters here.

But the former Pennsylvania senator – seen as Romney’s strongest rival for the nomination – found himself in hot water last week by suggesting that Puerto Rico would need to make English its official language before it could become the 51st US state.

One of the main areas of concerns to Puerto Rican voters is the candidates’ views on whether the island should gain the right to become a US state.

Romney, Gingrich and Santorum have all said they would back statehood for Puerto Rico as long as the commonwealth’s voters support it in a November referendum.

Laying out a policy more to the liking of most Puerto Ricans, Romney said he respected the fact that Spanish had been spoken in Puerto Rico for more than 100 years and that he did not favour any changes to the official language as a condition for statehood.

“Obviously Puerto Rico is a … Spanish-speaking island – and they’ll continue to speak Spanish, and of course that’s their culture, and they have every right to do so,” the former Massachusetts governor said on ABC’s “This Week” show. “But what I have said is that, you know, there should be fluency in English as well as Spanish.”

The Spanish-speaking island of 3.7 million has been a US possession since 1898 and residents are US citizens. Voters can choose party candidates, but since Puerto Rico is not a state, residents cannot vote in the November 6 presidential election.

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