Puerto Rico congressional representative Jenniffer Gonzalez defeated Gov. Pedro Pierluisi was shocked by a shocking upset in the primary elections held on Sunday by his pro-statehood party.

In 2004, the two candidates ran under the New Progressive Party. But Gonzalez, a Republican announced in early December that she would challenge Pierluisi (a Democrat). The public jabs became acrimonious between the two during the campaign.

Puerto Rico’s major political parties are split by the island’s status. It’s not uncommon to find both Republicans as well as Democrats in the same party.

Pierluisi congratulated Gonzalez late on Sunday, saying, “It’s painful and I wasn’t expecting it. But don’t think I’m going slow down for the rest of this period.”

While the results were still trickling in, he addressed his supporters and Gonzalez joined her.

Gonzalez received 56% of votes compared to Pierluisi’s 44%. However, tens or even hundreds of thousands of ballots are still being counted. She is the New Progressive Party’s first female gubernatorial nominee to win a primary.

“Positions don’t belong to politicians… they belong the people,” Gonzalez stated during a speech, shortly after Pierluisi had conceded. “I will be on the street, listening to the people.”

Puerto Rico’s election commission has not updated its numbers yet and is still counting votes.

Elmer Roman is a senior U.S. Naval officer and former Secretary of State for Puerto Rico. William Villafane, Senator of Puerto Rico, is running with Gonzalez to fill the resident commissioner position. Pierluisi is the candidate for this position. Villafane received 53% of votes on Monday and Roman had 47%. 80% of voting centres reported.

Jesus Manuel Ortiz, Puerto Rico’s Rep., defeated Juan Zaragoza, Sen., in the primary of the Popular Democratic Party. The party, which supports the island’s territorial status, is seeking a return to the power at the upcoming elections.

Zaragoza conceded defeat despite having received 38% of votes to Zaragoza’s 62%. This was despite the fact that only slightly more than 60% had been counted.

The Popular Democratic Party nominated attorney Pablo Jose Hernandez as its candidate for resident commissioner. This is the first time in 20 years that this nomination has been made.

The page of Puerto Rico’s elections commission crashed as the results were announced late Sunday. This frustrated many who had been closely following the primary. Officials rushed to fix the issue, claiming they didn’t know what caused it. However, they said that U.S. Homeland Security and others agencies are helping.

Jessika Pailla, alternate president of the commission, said, “If necessary, we would activate the FBI in the given situation.”

Ortiz and Gonzalez, as well as other candidates, face angry voters on an island that is still suffering from chronic power outages, and has yet to complete reconstruction after Hurricane Maria. The storm hit the island in September 2017 with a Category 4.

More than a dozen polling centers reported power outages, including the one where Ortiz voted, forcing officials back to manual voting. The island was also hit by heavy rains, and flood warnings were issued in nearly a dozen cities.

The power outages in Puerto Rico were so serious that the elections commission rented over a dozen generators, and a private company identified 81 alternative voting sites that had guaranteed electricity.

Benito Lopez is a retired 66-year old wearing a T shirt that says “The Island of Enchantment”. He plans to vote for a candidate who he will not name “to see if any improvements and changes have occurred.”

Other complaints from voters include the difficulty in obtaining business licenses, the broken education system and the lack of capital markets on the island after the local government emerged, two years ago, from the largest debt restructuring of U.S. History.

Puerto Rico’s largest government agency, the power company, owes more than $9 billion in debt. After bitter negotiations between bondholders and the government, a federal judge overseeing an almost bankruptcy-like procedure has not yet ruled on a restructuring.

Cecilio said, “They have ruined Puerto Rico” as he waited for his vote. “Economic growth must be a top priority.”

Other voters are concerned about the exodus from Puerto Rico of doctors and the deteriorating health care system in the U.S. Territory.

The patients have to endure all of this. It’s unfair,” said Dr. Alfredo Rivera Freytes. He is an anesthesiologist from Puerto Rico who moved to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands due to the health care system problems in Puerto Rico.

The need for anesthesiologists was great in Puerto Rico, so he returned to the island two years ago.

Pierluisi cited his achievements, including record tourism numbers, hurricane recovery and economic growth, before the primaries. Pierluisi had promised to prioritize projects that would benefit children and the island’s growing elderly population.

Former Gov. Ricardo Rossello was the star of an event celebrating the end his campaign, held one week before primaries. Ricardo Rossello resigned from his position in August 2019, after nearly two weeks on the streets, sparked by the leak of crude chat messages between Rossello and his top advisors.

)Gonzalez pledged to crackdown on corruption, to award more funding to agencies that help victims of violence in the wake of a spike in women’s murders, and to stop an exodus from doctors and other medical staff to the U.S.

Gonzalez, who won the election on Sunday, appealed directly to voters’ frustrations earlier in the day before her victory. She said she would do everything possible to solve their problems.

She said, “That’s why I’m running for governor. I don’t want us to get used not to have electricity or water.”

Zaragoza promised to prioritise climate change and renewable energies, decentralize education on the island and improve access health. Ortiz’s opponent pledged to simplify the tax system, improve the licensing process for doctors and overhaul health care.

In the general elections in November, Gonzalez and Ortiz face other gubernatorial candidate from different parties. Puerto Rico’s new governor will be working with a federal control panel that supervises the island’s financial affairs and was created when the government declared bankruptcy.

More than 4,900 prisoners voted in prisons in the U.S. before Sunday’s primary elections. The State Commission of Elections has also confirmed the results.