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Bill seeks runoff elections for NMI
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Posted on Feb 06 2006
A lawmaker seeks to amend the election law to provide for a runoff election.
Rep. Manuel Tenorio has authored a bill that would establish a runoff election for candidates for single-seat positions.
House Bill 15-59 proposes that a runoff election be held on the first Saturday of July in the same year of each general election where more than two candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, resident representative to the United States, or mayor have been certified by the Board of Elections to be placed on the ballot for election.
The runoff election aims to eliminate candidates for the single-seat offices, except for the two highest vote recipients.
To ensure that there is enough time for a runoff election to be conducted, the bill also seeks to adjust the deadlines for nominations. Nominations for single-seat posts must be submitted 180-210 days, rather than 60-90 days, before the general election.
For senators and representatives, nominations must be submitted 60-90 days before the general election.
“[T]he current Northern Mariana Islands Election Law allows candidates receiving the plurality of votes to be certified as the governor and lieutenant governor…, the resident representative to the United States, or mayor of Saipan, Tinian or Rota,” reads a portion of the bill. “In other words, the current election law does not require the winning candidates to obtain a majority of the votes cast in an election. The result in such a situation is electing public officials that do not represent a majority of the people in the CNMI.”
Results of the latest general election prompted renewed discussion about a runoff election. Gov. Benigno R. Fitial received 28 percent of the votes, winning by a margin of 99 votes over his closest rival in the four-way gubernatorial race.
