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> The fifth referendum was held on June 11, 2017. 97% percent voted for statehood, though there was only 23% voter turnout.[1]

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/337347-puerto-rico-votes-in...

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This is extremely misleading. The pro-status quo party boycotted the referendum. I'm relatively ignorant of the political situation in PR but it's obvious that this isn't a situation with near-universal consensus.

The pro-status-quo groups have been actively avoiding honest participation from the 1998 vote on, because they'd rather a vote with unclear results than a clear loss (though even so, they clearly lost in 2012, though their non-participation in the “if not status quo, then what” part of that ballot was used as grounds to deny the import of the substantial win by Statehood on that ballot.)

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