Puerto Rico’s political crisis risked deepening today as lawmakers and street protesters opposed Pedro Pierluisi, the island’s former representative in the U.S. Congress, tapped to replace disgraced Governor Ricardo Rosselló, Reuters reported. A day before Rosselló was set to resign over offensive chat messages that sparked mass protests, some members of his party vowed to reject Pierluisi, largely over conflict of interest concerns. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets to demand Rosselló quit after the leaked messages unleashed rage over suspected administration corruption, slow recovery from 2017’s deadly hurricanes and the U.S. territory’s bankruptcy. Rosselló called a special session of Puerto Rico’s legislature today for lawmakers to vote on Pierluisi as secretary of state, and therefore next in line to succeed him. Members of Rosselló’s New Progressive Party (PNP) said Pierluisi’s role as a lawyer for law firm O’Neill & Borges advising the federally created financial oversight board directing Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy disqualified him for the job.
