Hillary Clinton Wins Puerto Rico Democratic Primary

Hillary Clinton has won the 2016 Puerto Rico Democratic primary, according to projections made by CNN and the Associated Press. Clinton, who was not expected to take home all 60 delegates up for grabs in the U.S. territory, is very close to clinching the Democratic nomination for president.

Results were slow to come in on Sunday from Puerto Rico as officials counted ballots by hand and focused on releasing results tied to the island's local primary first, the Associated Press reported.

The primary came just after Saturday's caucus in the Virgin Islands, where Hillary Clinton took home all seven pledged delegates over her opponent Bernie Sanders.

A total of 67 delegates were up for grabs in Puerto Rico, with 60 of those being pledged delegates.

Clinton is now very close to being her party's nominee. Sanders has vowed to fight until the very end and told reporters on Saturday that the convention in July will be contested. He added that he was going to make the case to flip some of the superdelegates who have thrown their support behind Clinton.

Both Clinton and Sanders campaigned in Puerto Rico, with the two candidates offering solutions on the territory's debt crisis. Clinton had a clear advantage in the territory, as there is a sizable Puerto Rican population in New York, where she served as a senator.

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla backed the former secretary of state just prior to the primary.

Sanders, on the other hand, did not win himself any favors with Democrats in Puerto Rico. On Saturday, his campaign accused local party leaders of fraud, claiming that officials with the campaign were denied access to prisons to help inmates vote.

“Our Bernie Sanders officials were never certified. We had 40 officials we submitted in time for the prisons. Not one of them was certified, while all of theirs [Hillary Clinton’s] went in. Attorney Manny Suárez had to go in order for us to be let in. This is a great fraud,” Betsy Franceschini, Hispanic vote director for the campaign, told Caribbean Business News.

Responding to the allegations, Puerto Rico Democrats said they were "appalled."

"I am appalled at the remarks from the spokesperson of the Bernie Sanders Campaign in Puerto Rico, Ms. Betsy Franceschini," local Democratic Party president Roberto Prats said in a statement.

While residents of the U.S. territory participate in the primary, they are not eligible to vote in the November election.

According to the latest AP count, Clinton is now less than 30 delegates away from winning the nomination when superdelegates are included.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Creative Commons