Saludos a todos! Today I’m going to be talking about one of the most controversial, polarizing topics at the moment: the election(s). I’ll be catching you all up to speed on the election for governor here in Puerto Rico, as well as the election of the President of the United States.

Puerto Rico

November 8 was also election day here in Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, we cannot vote for the President because we do not have representation in the Electoral College. Naturally, there were complaints on social media. If you consider the fact that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth, and the fact that Puerto Rico has a larger population than at least 20 U.S. states, and still no say in the Presidential election, the complaints are justified.

But, we CAN vote for the governor of the island. There were 6 candidates this year.

Only two of the candidates were from major parties; Ricardo Rossello and David Bernier. Roselló ran representing el Partido Nuevo Progresista (New Progressive Party), which is referred to as the PNP. Bernier ran as a member of the Partido Popular Democratico (Popular Democratic Party), or the PPD. The other four candidates, Alexandra Lugaro, Manuel Cidre, Maria de Lourdes Santiago, and Rafael Bernabé, ran representing less popular parties, or without any party backing. The PNP’s main political proposal is to make Puerto Rico the 51st State.

The PPD’s concerned with keeping Puerto Rico’s status unchanged, leaving it as a U.S. territory. These parties have been going head to head for years, and after having a PPD governor for the past four years, Rosselló and the PNP won the race for governor. While I didn’t see too much in relation to these results on my social media, there were people suggesting that the U.S takes after us and how much fun we have on election day, as well as our extremely high percentage of people who go out and vote.

Which leads me into my next topic: elections in the U.S

U.S.A.

Where do I start?!  I’m sure you know that the candidates were former first lady and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, for the democratic party; and Donald J. Trump, a businessman and television personality, representing the republican party. These two made history was made this election year, in more ways than one.  Firstly, this was not only the first time a woman was nominated for the Presidency, but the first time that a woman has won the popular vote in a presidential election.

It was also the first time that a person with no political or military experience was able to receive the nomination for president, and the first time someone with no political or military experience has won the presidency. Wow. I can honestly say that I never thought for a minute that he actually had a chance at winning the Presidency, so I (along with many, many others) was completely flabbergasted by the fact that he did.

The results of this election have been extremely controversial. People are either extremely happy, or completely in shock and dismay. People who supported him are happy because they believe that he’s the change that the United States needs. On the other hand, people that don’t support him are outraged that someone who has insulted women, soldiers, Muslims, latinos, and has been accused of sexual assault, fraud, and not paying people who have worked on his businesses, could win the presidency. I personally think that people have the right to be concerned, being that there is a great amount of intolerance in certain parts of the United States. The internet has tried to make light of everything:

Some people are planning their escape from the U.S. The Canadian Immigration site went down on election night, and the tweets about moving abroad have been endless.

Some people are also just plain outraged. People are angry that Clinton won the popular vote, but that Trump won the electoral college. There’s actually been a petition asking the Electoral College to go against the popular vote of their state and to elect Hillary. It already has over 4 million signatures. Several celebrities have shared it, even though the electoral college goes against the popular vote in their state less than 1% of the time, so it’s very unlikely (still worth a shot though???? )

This is the second election in 20 years where the person who won the popular vote lost the presidency because of the electoral college, and the electoral college was established before the majority of the country had access to education, therefore was illiterate and needed a group of electors to make sure they didn’t vote for the wrong person.  Some people have complained about the electoral college and whether or not it should still be in place.

Oh, the irony.

Regardless of who you supported in the election, what’s done is done. Hillary has accepted defeat with nothing but grace, and I think anyone who supports her should do the same. In closing, I will leave you with some wise words from her:

That’s all I have to say about the elections and social media, hasta la proxima????