Editor’s Note

Every four years, one of the most exciting political events in the CNMI happens: the general elections, which is when the CNMI electorate chooses a whole slew of political and nonpartisan officials, from the gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial post, right down to the attorney general, legislative members, island mayors, the municipal council and Board of Education members, and as well as the retention bids of judicial officials.

That exciting event happens this year, on Nov. 8, 2022, to be exact. As of the September deadline, there was an overall total of 19,272 voters in the CNMI, surpassing the 18,914 that was recorded during the 2018 elections and assuring that this Nov. 8 general elections will have the highest number of registered voters in the Commonwealth’s history. And with general elections being known for having record voter turnouts, it would be safe to assume that this year’s election will be no exception.

This comes on the heels of a two-year pandemic that has hammered the CNMI—and world—economy, a severe downturn in the CNMI’s main economic engine driver, which is tourism, and a flood of federal assistance that hopefully kept everyone on an even footing even as the rest of the world was teetering on the brink of collapse. That is not even taking into consideration that the CNMI is still pretty much in the middle of getting back to its feet after the devastation of two super typhoons, with many buildings still waiting to be rebuilt and the Northern Marianas College still holding some classes in tents. Even now, some Public School System campus buildings still lie in ruins and are still waiting to be demolished and restored. That means this election is coming on the heels of some of the most earthshaking events in CNMI history and the electoral decisions that will be made this Nov. 8 will have repercussions not just on the makeup of the CNMI’s leadership in the next four years but will also have a profound effect on the Commonwealth and its economic trajectory in the years ahead.

This supplement is, therefore, intended to give our voters a look at some of this election’s candidates in a bid to give them more insights into the people they would most likely support this election, while also enabling these candidates a chance to reach out to the electorate and convince them of their fitness for the job. We hope this supplement will allow us to meet that goal.

We tried to create a uniform pattern for the candidates’ responses and format the questions in a way that would generate responses that were as brief as possible, but some candidates did go outside our standard formatting and we allowed it in many cases if they feel their message will be clearer in that manner. Also, we followed the arrangement as provided by the Commonwealth Election Commission to avoid any appearance of partiality.

Jayvee Vallejera
Editor, Saipan Tribune