Absentee votes are not likely to upset Kilili win

The outcome of absentee voting for the Northern Marianas’ first-ever congressional delegate is expected to uphold the victory of independent candidate Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan in the election precincts.

Election results will not be final until the absentee votes are counted on Nov. 18, 2008. The Commonwealth Election Commission had mailed out 1,118 absentee ballots and had received 655 returns as of Tuesday, Nov. 4.

But key political figures said yesterday that any of the three other candidates still remaining in the race is not likely to cut into Sablan’s lead with absentee votes.

Currently, Sablan holds a 360-vote margin over his closest rival, Washington Resident Rep. Pete A. Tenorio. The other candidates who still could upset the vote count, television talk show host John Gonzales and retired judge Juan T. Lizama, are behind Sablan by 539 votes and 668 votes, respectively.

“I am humbled by the results,” Sablan said. “I am very grateful to the many people who supported me and voted for me.”

Although pleased with his relatively commanding lead, Sablan is hesitant to declare an early victory. “Traditionally, absentee ballots have been spread out among the candidates. But there’s a good number of absentee voters that have called me and told me they have cast their ballots for me. Then again, I don’t want to assume anything. We’ll just have to wait until the commission has received and counted all of the ballots,” he said.

Congratulations

In a press statement yesterday, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial expressed confidence that the absentee ballots “would not deviate substantially from the trend seen in all election precincts counted so far.” The statement noted that Fitial himself won his gubernatorial election by 99 votes, the smallest margin in CNMI history, and managed to maintain his victory through a full counting of all absentee ballots in 2005.

“I congratulate Kilili and all of his campaign volunteers for a job very well done,” said Fitial. “And I also congratulate all of the other delegate candidates for entering the arena of politics and waging very impressive political campaigns.”

He also expressed thanks to the voters who participated in the historic election.

“I look forward to working with Kilili for the benefit of the CNMI if his election victory is sustained by the final absentee ballot count,” said Fitial.

Comfortable margin

House Floor Leader Joseph James Camacho, vice chairman of Sablan’s campaign team, said that Sablan’s 360-vote edge over Tenorio is “a comfortable lead.”

“We are very happy and grateful to all of the voters and Kilili’s supporters,” Camacho said of the election results. “Obviously, we have to wait for the absentee ballots. We look forward to those ballots being counted.”

Even Tenorio’s camp appears to have conceded the election to Sablan. Rep. Joseph Reyes, who led Tenorio’s campaign, said he would like to see the absentee votes swing the election in Tenorio’s favor, but he is not keeping his hopes up.

“Realistically, the margin is large,” Reyes said. “The people have spoken. I’m disappointed but that’s the outcome. I congratulate Mr. Sablan for winning the election.”

Yet, he expressed regret the local Republican Party went to the election divided between Tenorio and Sablan. “I just wish that the party could have worked more collectively, I suppose,” he said.

Voter turnout

Some 13,000 voters from Saipan, Tinian, Rota and the Northern Islands registered to vote. Of the nearly 12,000 precinct voters, only 9,408 showed up at the polling stations. Election officials consider the less-than-80 percent voter turnout to be low, although typical of non-gubernatorial elections in the Commonwealth.

A total of 114 votes were not counted mostly because there were multiple marks on the ballot or the ballot was unmarked.

Candidates

Sablan, who received 2,279 votes, served two terms in the House of Representatives in the 1980s. He also served as a special assistant for management and budget in the administration of former governor Froilan C. Tenorio. Kilili served briefly as a special assistant in the third administration of former governor Pedro P. Tenorio before he was appointed executive director of the Commonwealth Election Commission.

Tenorio, with 1,919 votes, helped negotiate the CNMI’s Covenant with the United States and was a lieutenant governor for eight years. In 2002, he started serving his first term as the CNMI’s resident representative to Washington, DC. His second term, which began in 2006, will be cut short when the new CNMI delegate replaces him in January.

Gonzales, who got 1,740 votes, is a local television talk-show host and was serving both as a division chief at the Department of Public Lands and as a deputy press secretary for Governor Fitial when he joined the delegate race. Lizama retired earlier this year as an associate judge of the Superior Court to run for the delegate seat.

The other five who ran include: Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo, who got 879 votes; former senator David M. Cing from Tinian, 270 votes; Saipan municipal councilman Felipe Q. Atalig, 233 votes; businessman Chong Man Won, 219 votes; and high school teacher John Davis, Jr., 139 votes.

Crisostimo said he respects the decision of the Commonwealth, but added that he would have preferred to have been beaten by Cing, the candidate of the local Democratic Party. He maintained that a Democrat like him or Cing could best represent the CNMI in Congress, which is expected to remain under the control of the Democratic Party.

Asked about his future plans, Crisostimo said he will have another go at the delegate seat in two years. In the meantime, he will continue his Senate term.

For his part, Won said he was disappointed with the election ranking. “I thought I’d get a little bit more, but I guess the consensus of the island is [that] they’re not ready for someone that’s not local,” said the Korean-born businessman.

But he offered his congratulations to Sablan. On whether he’ll run for anything again, he said he will see. “This is a pretty good learning experience for me,” he said. [B][I](With Kristi Eaton)[/I][/B]