New political party takes root in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - One of the few things that has long united Puerto Rico's three traditional political parties is stifling the ambitions of any upstart party that dared to join them.

Seeking to break what many see as their stranglehold on power, the Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party was officially certified this month by the State Election Commission.

It can now run a full slate of candidates for the 2008 election in the U.S. commonwealth and qualify for some $3.6 million in public campaign financing.

The 'green' or environmental-minded PRPR holds out the "promise of a new style" in the island's politics, said Rogelio Figueroa, its 43-year-old president and now candidate for governor in 2008.

"Take anything a traditional politician says and the opposite is likely to be the truth," he said.

The PRPR is the only party not aligned with a political status. Island politics has long been dominated by the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party, the pro-statehood New Progressive Party and the pro-independence Puerto Rican Independence Party.

The last time a fourth party fielded a candidate was in 1984, when San Juan Mayor Hernan Padilla split from the NPP and formed the Puerto Rican Renovation Party, a political entity that disappeared after Padilla's loss that year.

"This is an unprecedented phenomenon -- the first time a political party is born, not out of divisions in another political party, but from the street," said veteran political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua. "Before they were always spin-offs from existing, status-oriented parties."

The new party's environmental stance could connect with voters on a once pristine island where government utilities, such as the water and electric utilities, have been regularly cited as the largest polluters.

Figueroa, an engineer and entrepreneur, said his party's focus will be on sustainable development. The goal, he says, is to halt urban sprawl, protect the island's remaining green spaces and redevelop urban areas into "liveable" cities with pedestrian friendly spaces.

"HORRIBLE GOVERNMENT"

"A number of their proposals will be seen positively by community and environmental activists," said Luis Jorge Rivera, of the Initiative for Sustainable Development.

Garcia Passalacqua credits the "disdain our electorate has for the three political parties" with the birth of the new political party.

"People are frustrated and angry by 40 years of horrible government by the traditional parties," added Manuel Rodriguez Orellana, a former senator.

A federal lawsuit against the State Election Commission over its requirement that individual signatures for political parties had to be notarized by an attorney helped pave the way for the PRPR winning certification. To be registered as a new party, an organization must collect enough signatures to represent 5 percent of voters in the previous general elections, currently about 100,000.

A federal judge declared in 2003 the notary requirement unconstitutional because it was so cumbersome and costly that it effectively blocked the registration of new parties.

While the new party does not advocate a particular status, it would not be Puerto Rican if it did not believe that the status dilemma needs resolution. Figueroa says what's missing is a widespread education campaign, both in Puerto Rico and the states, on the importance of forging a status solution.

"We can solve this problem. The other parties have a built-in conflict of interest," Figueroa said. "On the day they solve the status problem, they disappear."