CNMI governor to be decided in run-off election
Updated
The next governor of Northern Mariana Islands will be decided in a runoff election, after all four pairings failed to get the 50 percent plus one votes required for an outright win. Its the first time that a runoff vote will be held in the Islands, thanks to legislation introduced last July.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Gemma Casas, reporter in the Northern Mariana Islands
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CASAS: They actually counted 13,510 ballots and of which the Republican standard bearer, Mr Heinz Hofschneider, got the most number of votes at 4,900. He is just 8 votes ahead of Mr Benigno Fitial, the incumbent governor.
COUTTS: So what happens with Mr Fital now.
CASAS: There is going to be a runoff. The date has not been scheduled yet, but it's supposed to be 14 days after all the winning candidates have been certified, which is about on or before November 17.
COUTTS: And this is the first time you have had a run off election in CNMI, can you just explain the background to that?
CASAS: Yes, in 2005, when the governor won the election, he got I believe it was just 37 per cent of the voters' support. So the Legisalature decided to pass a measure that would require a runoff and the governor eventually signed it into the law. So now the runoff should be held if none of the gubernatorial teams get the 50% plus one of the votes cast. So in this year's general election, there were at least 13,510 ballots that were counted, so none of them got 50 per cent plus one vote, which is supposed to be 6,756.
COUTTS: So does it look like CNMI will get a new governor?
CASAS: It's hard to predict, it's going to be a close fight between these two gubernatorial teams. Because the governor has already made some moves to entice the losing gubernatorial teams to join his political parties. If that happens, and Mr Hofschneider may not be able to win this election.
COUTTS: Okay, and are there other positions that need to be filled along with the governor's position?
CASAS: No, the runoff is exclusively for gubernatorial teams.
COUTTS: And there was a number of other legislative initiatives that were voted on. What were they and any results there?
CASAS: Actually there were three legislative initiatives that were ratified and one popular initiative and the popular initiative was pushed by independent representative Tina Sablan. It requires that the open government act be applied to the legislature. That means all their expenses in relation to travelling, food and other things should be open to the public.
COUTTS: And what were the other initiatives and you say that they were popular ones, so you think that the people are supporting them?
CASAS: Yes, all the initiatives were ratified by the voters.
