The team of Heinz Hofschneider and Arnold Palacios surged ahead by a 396-vote margin in Saturday's primary to beat the Juan Babauta-Galvin Deleon Guerrero tandem and become the standard-bearer of the Republic Party this November.
Hofschneider's team garnered a total of 3,382 votes against the opposing tandem's 2,986 votes.
A total of 6,368 votes were counted during the primary poll, which translates to 58 percent of the party's total target of 11,000.
The winning tandem got its biggest support from Precinct 1 (San Vicente, San Antonio, and Koblerville areas), with a total of 983 votes won against the Babauta team's 870.
Precinct 3's Garapan and Oleai villages also boosted the team's margin, with Hofschneider getting 744 votes over 525 for Babauta.
Precinct 2, which covers the Chalan Kanoa and Susupe areas, also favored the Heinz-Arnold team with 318, against the opponent's 192.
Voters swung the other way in Precinct 4 (Tanapag, San Roque, and Capital Hill areas), with Babauta and Deleon Guerrero receiving 435 votes over the Hofschneider team's 310.
Babauta also ruled Precinct 7, garnering 302 votes over Hofschneider's 194.
The emerging communities of Kagman (Precinct 5) went the other way, with Hofschneider getting 509 votes against the opposing team's 475.
Precinct 6 and Northern Islands voters cemented the victory of the Heinz-Arnold tandem, giving it 259 and 65 votes respectively, as opposed to Babauta's 146 and 41.
Supporters of both camps began trooping to polling places like Garapan and San Vicente elementary schools as early as 6:45am to cast their votes. Both schools registered their first voters at exactly 7am, according to poll supervisors.
GOP chair Ed Tenorio said he is elated with the turnout and optimistic that the “pretty good outcome” will continue through the general election.
“We're very satisfied with the turnout! These 6,000 voters in the primary is a very significant figure and convey a very strong message to the GOP. We thank the public for their participation, the volunteers, and both camps for a successful election for the party,” Tenorio said.
'Manual count'
Ballots started coming in at 6pm at the Multi-Purpose Center. To ensure the smooth flow in the manual counting of ballots, tabulators for each precinct segregated the materials before the final assessment of the committee's central election board.
The results were certified and announced by party officials at 8:10pm.
Tenorio said the local party spent over $20,000 for the primary election.
There were nearly 14,000 registered voters in the CNMI as of last week.
The GOP chairman said the 6,000 who voted in the primary indicates the good chance of the local party in November's general election where three other teams will vie for the governor and lieutenant governor positions.
“This only shows that GOP is still a strong party.if all members will unite as a family. There's no doubt GOP will rule!” he said.
Saturday's primary excluded absentee voters but was participated in by some members of other political parties such as Democrat and Covenant.
Democrat Party supporter John Brown, 57, said he was inspired to participate in the GOP primary to help the CNMI choose the best candidates.
The Democrats have no official standard-bearer for the top two positions.
'Major votes received in first two hours'
Ramon Cabrera, polling supervisor for San Vicente, told Saipan Tribune the precinct had the biggest group of voters within the first two hours of the election.
As of 8am, San Vicente Elementary School already registered over a hundred voters, reaching nearly 700 by 2pm. Cabrera said they expected about 1,800 voters.
Evelyn Takai, 45, who cast her vote with family members, said they are committed to support whoever wins the primary.
“We're voting as a family.and like the GOP, we're intending to support whoever is endorsed by 'our family,'” she told Saipan Tribune. She refused to disclose whom she voted for.
The four candidates cast their votes at the Garapan Elementary School, with the team of Babauta and Deleon Guerrero the first to cast their ballots at 7:30am. Palacios, along with his wife, voted an hour later. Hofschneider cast his vote an hour before the closing of polling places.
Garapan polling supervisors Joe Salas and Jessica Deleon Guerrero, who described the primary as “very smooth, quiet, and satisfying,” said about 700 had voted as of 3pm Saturday.
Garapan voter Jullie Cunanan admitted that, although the primary election is an important exercise, her family will vote for the candidate of other parties if their choice for the primary doesn't win.
“At least we showed our support to the party.but it is our decision to vote for the candidates of other parties in case our choice today doesn't make it,” she told Saipan Tribune.
In Oleai Elementary, polling supervisors Antonio Mareham and Alice Deleon Guerrero said their area had only 257 voters as of 3pm Saturday.
Voter Lucy Rosario, from Oleai, said the Hofschneider-Palacios team had the more “realistic” platform. “I believe in their platform.that's why I supported them. But I will give my full support to whoever wins this primary and is endorsed as the party's candidate,” she said.
'Nervous all day'
A first-timer in the primary election, Hofschneider admitted that he was nervous all day.
“This is my very first time to get into the primary.and it was an uneasy feeling. To be perfectly honest, I was nervous all day,” he told Saipan Tribune after speaking to supporters in the victory party that saw the attendance of hundreds of community members.
“Although I feel confident that I have done what it takes in the last four months, it was the anticipation that made me nervous,” he added.
Hofschneider and Palacios, along with their wives, and committee-to-elect chair Tom Pangelinan thanked the crowd for their full support.
The GOP's gubernatorial candidate described the primary election as a “Republican family thing” that was decided in a democratic way.
“I am happy the primary is over and we're thankful not only to the GOP members but to the general public who came out and voted. I saw today that it didn't really matter if you're a Republican or not.people want change and they have spoken!” he said.
Hofschneider described the over 6,000 votes as a “clear and loud” message to the Commonwealth.
Earlier in the day, Hofschneider and Babauta met at a polling place where they reiterated their commitment to a “clean” primary election.
“I thank and respect John and Galvin for keeping it clean.and we welcome their entire group to join and merge with our team to build upon and make it a success in the November election,” he said.
Hofschneider plans to take a week's rest after Saturday's victory. “Then I will get back on the street and the community,” he added.
He cited five areas as among the top concerns in the GOP's platform-economy, utilities, job opportunities, healthcare, and education.
Palacios said he was “very happy and very humbled” by their victory and expressed his appreciation and respect to both Babauta and Deleon Guerrero, whom he described as “true gentlemen.”
'No plan yet'
Babauta said he has no plans yet to run for any other office at this time.
“I haven't gotten to that point yet,” he told Saipan Tribune when asked if he is thinking of running for a seat in the Legislature.
Babauta, along with Deleon Guerrero, spoke to their supporters at their headquarters upon hearing the result.
“I extend my congratulations to them [Heinz-Arnold] for winning this primary election by a sizeable margin. I respect that. and the people had spoken. I ask my supporters that, in keeping with my agreement and promise we made to support whoever wins, I am keeping with that promise and will give my full support to the GOP candidates in the November election,” he said.
Hofschneider and Palacios arrived at the Babauta-Deleon Guerrero headquarters at 9:45pm to symbolically reunify the party. Both camps addressed Babauta's supporters.
Galvin Deleon Guerrero, in his message to the crowd, said he respects the people's decision and vowed to support the winning tandem.
“Whether it is blue or red.better not make it green this November!” he told the crowd.
Also seen in the emotional “reunification” of GOP members was Rep. Diego Benavente, who vocally endorsed Babauta in the primary election.
“For the party, I am happy it's over,” he said, adding that as a loyal supporter of the GOP he will fully support its decision in the November election.
Benavente, a former lieutenant governor, will seek re-election for a Precinct 1 seat at the House. Prior to becoming the second top official in government, he served 12 consecutive years in the Legislature.
GOP PRIMARY RESULTS
Saturday June 27, 2009
PRECINCT 1A 1B 1C 2 3A 3B 4A 4B 4C 5 6 7 N.I. TOTAL
Heinz-Arnold 217 485 281 318 180 564 118 112 80 509 259 194 65 3,382
Juan-Galvin 172 495 203 192 140 385 191 178 66 475 146 302 41 2,986
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