NPP, PDP campaigns hit new phase

Popular Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Alejandro García Padilla is scheduled to address his followers at noon in Río Grande, where the commonwealth party’s campaign platform will be ratified in a general assembly vote on Sunday.

The New Progressive Party is moving from the Caribe Hilton to Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum in Bayamón to seal to the statehood party’s campaign platform.

Gov. Luis Fortuño will address the throng of blue supporters there as he seeks a second term.

Polls show the race for La Fortaleza in November will be a tight one.

This year’s race is gaining added momentum with a referendum on Puerto Rico’s political status scheduled for Election Day.

Puerto Ricans will vote on the status issue on Nov. 6. The plebiscite ballot will consist of two questions. Voters will first be asked whether they want the current territory status to continue. Regardless of how voters answer that question, they will then be asked to express their preference among the three alternatives to the current status: statehood, independence and nationhood in free association with the United States.

There is no guarantee that Congress, which ultimately has the power to solve the status problem, will act on the results of the non-binding plebiscite.

Puerto Ricans previously have voted to remain a commonwealth in referendums issued in 1967 (60 percent) and 1993 (48 percent). In a 1998 plebiscite, the “none of the above” option won with 50 percent of the vote, followed by statehood at 46 percent. The “none of the above” option was added by the commonwealth supporting Popular Democratic Party to protest the definition of “commonwealth” on the ballot.