The Working People's Party ( es, Partido del Pueblo Trabajador or PPT) was a Puerto Rican political party. It was founded on December 5, 2010, in the city of

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

, by a group of activists, students, teachers, professors, union workers, actors, and public and private employees. As of 2016, the party had no opinion on the issue of the

political status of Puerto Rico The political status of Puerto Rico is that of an unincorporated territory of the United States. As such, the island of Puerto Rico is neither a sovereign nation nor a U.S. state. Because of that ambiguity, the territory, as a polity, lacks ce ...

, instead saying that they believe the decision should be made by the people of Puerto Rico in a referendum. The party was de facto dissolved in late 2016 after opting not to renew its registration, with most of its members joining the Citizens' Victory Movement.

Certification

The party worked to get the 100,000 endorsements required by the new electoral law of the Commonwealth in order to enroll with the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections (CEE). On June 1, 2012, the CEE(Comisión Estatal de Elecciones) certified the PPT as an official party after getting the required number of endorsements.

Electoral performance

The party's candidate for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, Rafael Bernabe Riefkohl, obtained more than 17,000 votes in the November 6, 2012 election, turning the party into the fourth most-voted political force in that electoral event. Their campaign slogan was: "Para romper el cerco electoral, abre paso, vota PPT", which roughly translates as "To break the electoral barrier, take a step, vote PPT". In 2016, Rafael Bernabe was once again the PPT candidate for governor. Mariana Nogales was the candidate for

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such ...

. Bernabe received 5,373 votes for governor (0.34% of the vote), finishing in 6th and last place. Nogales received 18,871 votes for resident commissioner (1.29% of the vote) and finished 4th.

References

{{Authority control Political parties in Puerto Rico Political history of Puerto Rico Political parties established in 2010 2010 establishments in Puerto Rico Political parties disestablished in 2016 State and local socialist parties in the United States