Poll results to have no impact on fed relations

The outcome of Saturday’s general election should not have any impact on the Commonwealth’s funding and relationship with the federal government, an official of the U.S. Department of the Interior said yesterday.

Deputy Interior assistant secretary for insular affairs David Cohen said the federal government has worked with leaders from any party and does not expect to have any problem with whoever wins the CNMI’s gubernatorial election.

American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono and U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Charles W. Turnbull are both Democrats, while Guam Gov. Felix Camacho and CNMI Gov. Juan N. Babauta are both Republicans, he noted.

“We expect to have a good relationship with any governor or president of any insular area. We work very well with governors of both parties. We work very well with leaders who have succeeded other leaders. We have established good working relationship with all the present governors,” Cohen said.

“We will very much respect the decision of the people of the CNMI, whatever that decision is. We will work with whoever the people of the CNMI want us to work with,” he added.

Cohen also extended his congratulations to each of the four gubernatorial candidates for running a good race.

“I would like to sit down with all of the candidates, congratulate them and share views with them. All of the candidates, whether they will win or not, are leaders in CNMI society. I always like to exchange views with leaders. It’s good for them to understand what’s important to us, and it’s good for us to understand what’s important to them,” he said.

Based on a partial tally of votes, the gubernatorial tandem of Benigno R. Fitial and Tim P. Villagomez is leading with 3,497 votes or 28 percent of the total votes cast.

Independent candidates Heinz S. Hofschneider and David Apatang ranked second with 3,3371 votes or about 27 percent, while GOP’s Gov. Juan N. Babauta and Diego T. Benavente got 3,228 votes or 26 percent. Placing fourth is Democratic Party’s gubernatorial team of Froilan C. Tenorio and Antonio Santos, with 2,256 votes, or 18 percent.

This year’s gubernatorial election will finally be decided by the absentee ballots, which will be tabulated on Nov. 19, as the top three candidates have very small margins of the votes.

Fitial has a 126-vote advantage over his closest rival, Hofschneider, while Babauta is not very far behind with 269 votes less than Fitial and 143 less votes than Hofschneider.

There are 1,602 registered absentee voters.