Cristino Bernazard is the only person to have served beyond the inaugural session as an unelected Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. After having served as Secretary of the House under Speaker Angel Viera Martínez, after the 1980 elections, his last duty as outgoing Secretary in January 1981 was to preside over the inaugural session of the new House until the new Speaker was elected and swear him in. Because neither the New Progressive Party nor the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico had yet obtained an absolute majority of the seats in the House, the body remained deadlocked until former Speaker Angel Viera Martínez and PDP Rep. Severo Colberg reached a power-sharing agreement that allowed Viera Martínez to be elected Speaker in April. In the meantime, Bernazard rem