Of Puerto Rico’s nearly 4 million residents, 900,000 or 54 percent of voters who turned out for a referendum posed in two parts on Tuesday, said they were not content with the island’s current “status” as a territory of the United States.
For the second part of the ballot, which asked voters to choose “statehood,” “independence,” or “sovereign free association,” 800,000, or 61 percent of the 1.3 million who filled out the question chose statehood, the Associated Press reported.
It was the first time in 45 years and three referendums that “statehood” won a majority of votes.
"We made history with this plebiscite," said Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's Congressional representative and a member of both the pro-statehood New Progressive Party and the Democratic Party, as reported by the Associated Press.
“The ball is now in Congress' court and Congress will have to react to this result," he added. "This is a clear result that says `no' to the current status."
President Obama has said he will support the will of the people.
Of the rest of voters who completed the second section of the ballot, 437,000 chose sovereign free association and 752,560 chose independence; 500,000 left the section blank, according to the Associated Press.
Puerto Rico also chose a new governor on Tuesday, Alejandro Garcia Pailla, a Popular Democrat in favor of the status quo, ousting pro-statehood Republican Luis Fortuno.
Because Puerto Rico is not a state, residents were not eligible to vote in Tuesday’s Presidential election.