Pedro Pierluisi, a former lawyer, freely admits that despite being sworn in the Senate may not ratify him on Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENTMass street protests in the US territory of Puerto Rico forced the governor to resign on Friday,
Ricardo A. Rosselló had made offensive remarks about Puerto Ricans, gay people and female politicians.
A new governor has been sworn in but he was controversially handpicked by Rosselló.
Pedro Pierluisi, a former lawyer, freely admits that despite being sworn in the Senate may not ratify him on Wednesday.
It means Puerto Rico could be engulfed by a constitutional crisis.
The territory has had a tough time in recent years. It was declared bankrupt in 2017 and then months later was hit by two deadly hurricanes.
Protesters say the government is corrupt and Pierluisi is not an acceptable replacement because he's a member of the old guard.
"We are all against this corrupt government and those who follow it. We are against Pierluisi who just took office and who is an attorney for the control board. We want someone fresh, someone clean, with clean hands," said Rene Sagardia, one of the protesters out on the streets of the capital San Juan.
Pierluisi used to advise the despised board that supervised Puerto Rico's bankruptcy and the fear now is that he is too politically tainted to govern the territory.