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The 1968 Puerto Rican election, one of the most facinating & Consequential elections, this was the first one in which the Partido Nuevo Progresista, both Participated in, and won, with the ascention of Luis A. Ferré(PNP-R) to the Governorship, Jorge Luis Córdova(PNP-D) to the Resident Commissioner's Seat and Gurabeño, Angel Viera Martínez(PNP) to the Speakership.
Now, the Events that led to the PPD's loss in this election are somewhat remenicent of the Presidential election of 1912.
To summarize, Governor Sánchez Vilella(PPD-D) during his term had multiple disagreements and Tension with the Other PPD Leaders such as Resident Commissioner Santiago Polanco-Abreu(PPD-D), Longtime Senate President Samuel R. Quiñones(PPD), and (Frm. Gov) Sen. Luis Muñoz Marín.
These disagreements/Tensions led to Sánchez Viella being ousted as the PPD Gubernatorial Nominee at their 1968 Nominating Convention, mostly through the influence of Muñoz Marín.
In frustration, Roberto Sánchez Vilella Created El Partido Del Pueblo(the People's Party, PR) to attempt to gain a second term.
This, despite the best effort's of Muñoz Marín, who campaigned heavily for PPD Nominee Luis Negrón López(PPD-D), Sánchez Vilella's Partido Del Pueblo split the PPD Vote enough to allow Luis A. Ferré to win with a 43.6% Plurality, and a margin of 2.9%.
Next, taking a look at the results by the legislative districts we find that Ferré(PNP) carried 3 out of 8 of the Senate districts, 2 with a plurality and San Juan with a Majority, and that Negrón López(PPD) carried 5 out of 8 all of them with a Plurality.
In terms of House Districts we find that Ferré carried 21 out of 40 house districts, 9 with a Majority of the vote. And we also see that Negrón López carried 19 out of 40 legislative districts, only 3 with a majority.
Also, Taking a look at the Margin's in the legislative districts we find the underlying reason why Ferré was able too win, that reason being his near 20%/16% margins in the San Juan & Bayamón senate districts, to which Negrón López was unable to overcome with the rest of the island, especially with his loss in the Ponce Senate district.
Furthermore, as mentioned before, the Partido Nuevo Progresista, also gained the Resident Commissioner's Seat with Jorge Luis Córdova(PNP-R/D) unseating incumbent Santiago Polanco-Abreu(PPD-D), with the Partido Del Pueblo playing a spoiler there too (Source)(Mapped Election).
*Note: Córdova is labled as a (R/D) because while he was elected as a Republican he changed his registration to the Democratic Party right as he began his term.
Lastly, taking a look at the legislative results, we find that this was the first time that the PNP flipped one of the Chambers, Specifically the house, and it was also one of the few times in PR History where the chambers were controlled by Diferent parties, with the Senate & House in PPD & PNP hands respectively..
Combing through the results we find that the PNP gained 4 at large seats from the Partido Estadista Republicano(it's Predecessor Party) and 2 at large seats from the PPD in each chamber, furthermore, they gained all their district seats from the PPD as the latter party held a monopoly on them til this election.
In terms of district seats, we find that all of the seats won by the PNP in both the chambers were also won by Luis A. Ferré in the gubernatorial election, with the only seat crossing over from the gubernatorial to the house results, and that being District 13 which voted for Ferré and the PPD District candidate.
However, despite being tied in the House Seat count, the PNP were able to win 6 of the 11 At large seats thereby giving them a majority in the house. However, since the PNP only won 3 senate districts, they were relegated to a minority in the upper chamber, just two seats short of a bare majority.
An inpressive result for the PNP's first elections, this election is considered to be the begining of the Bipartidismo that has had a near complete monopoly on power until the 2020 election when minor parties prevented either party from having a majority in the Puerto Rico Senate.
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