High voter turnout seen in polls

Thousands of voters across the CNMI trooped to polling centers yesterday to choose who among the 105 candidates they want to sit on the 42 seats that are available in this year’s general election. Initial estimates show a high voter turnout in yesterday’s polls.

The Commonwealth Election Commission projected a high voter turnout as many Commonwealth residents trooped early in the morning to polling centers and waited in long lines during the generally peaceful exercise. Election Commission executive director Greg Sablan declined, however, to specify a number for the turnout, saying he would not know until right before the counting begins.

Three gubernatorial candidates cast their ballots at the same polling center in the Garapan Elementary School.

House Speaker Benigno Fitial was the first voter to cast his ballot at Precinct 3-B1, right after all polling centers CNMI-wide opened their doors at about 7am.

Incumbent Gov. Juan N. Babauta and independent candidate Heinz Hofschneider voted at the same polling center almost at the same time around 5pm, while Democratic Party candidate Froilan Tenorio voted at the San Vicente Elementary School around 12 noon. All gubernatorial candidates expressed optimism about their chances for victory.

“I was the first one to vote,” declared Fitial outside the polling center. Covenant Party insiders believe that, while all four gubernatorial tandems would get a slice of the Chamorro votes, Carolinian and Filipino voters in the CNMI would make a difference for Fitial. Reportedly, there are over a thousand voters with Philippine ethnicity in the CNMI.

Hofschneider said he was in high spirits, predicting that the contest would be between him and Fitial. Between Fitial and Babauta, Hofschneider said the Speaker has a lead based on house-to-house visits. He also said his camp and the Covenant Party would top the votes on Tinian and Rota.

“I see a lot of youth who are coming out and participating in the political process,” Hofschneider said. Saying that he has the edge in terms of the youth’s votes, Hofschneider said the young voters comprise a large chunk of the CNMI’s 15,118 registered voters.

It was a battle for the loudest political jingles and cheers across most of the polling centers, where all four political camps put up their respective booths that were distinctively yellow, green, red, and blue, while supporters held on to posters and candidates waved at voters.

Voter turnout was relatively high. At the Garapan Elementary School, voter turnout at Precinct 3-B2 was close to 80 percent at 678 voters as of 5:20pm, while 706 out of 1,010 voters had cast their ballots at Precinct 3-B1 as of 5pm.

Many voters cast their ballots early in the morning at the GES polling centers, which accommodated 216 voters during the first voting hour.

Garapan resident Romeo Urbien said he waited in line for about 30 minutes before he could vote. Others waited much longer for their turn to vote. Urbien said there should have been more polling centers to shorten voters’ waiting time.

Despite the long wait, 20-year-old Gerald Francisco remained patient until his turn to cash his ballot at a GES polling center, saying that his vote is important.

The GES polling centers can accommodate four voters each at a time. Once a voter gets inside a polling center, his name is verified from the voter’s list and marked therein once he gets his ballot. A voter then goes to any of the four partitioned wooden booths, where he casts his vote and then later drops it into a ballot box. At least two police officers manned the GES polling centers.

There were also election personnel who went to homes and hospitals to gather the votes of those who are sick. One of them, Jessica DeLeon Guerrero, said those votes are obtained in the presence of the sick person’s relative. She said those ballots were sealed before being delivered to the appropriate polling center and then dropped inside the ballot box.

As of 2pm, 1,072 ballots have been cast in San Vicente. This represents 51 percent of the total number of registered voters in the village.

At 3pm, there were 515 voters who had cast their ballots in San Antonio. This is 63 percent of the total number of registered voters.

In Tanapag, voter turnout has reached 471 or 76 percent of the 618 registered voters as of 4pm.

Ballots cast in Capitol Hill numbered 741, or 65 percent of the total registered voters as of 4pm.

HOFSCHNEIDER: HIGH-SPIRITED ELECTIONS

As gubernatorial hopeful Heinz Hofschneider gently inserted his ballot into the ballot box yesterday afternoon, he blew kisses at it, as if asking for blessings to ensure his electoral victory.

Hofschneider finally exercised his right to vote at 4pm yesterday after a two-hour visit to all the precincts on Saipan to know the status of his supporters in those precincts. He arrived at his designated polling place at the Garapan Elementary School, almost the same time as incumbent Gov. Juan N. Babauta.

Hofschneider said he considers the election to be “high-spirited” as exhibited by the supporters in almost all the polling places he visited. He said, though, that two precincts—on Capitol Hill and in San Roque—were both “quiet and cordial.”

The gubernatorial bet said that the San Vicente Elementary School and Koblerville Elementary School had the most vibrant and energetic polling places among the 14 designated voting areas on Saipan.

He added that this year’s election was the most exciting because he saw a lot of youth participation in the process. “The youth has the big chunk of the votes and I am very grateful that the CNMI’s young people are now participating,” he said.

Hofschneider said he voted for the “blue” tandem for the top seat. As for the other available government positions, he said he had to select those candidates whom he thought were appropriate for the seats. “I also have to be conscientious and probably give the others a second chance,” he said.

Sixty-one-year-old Garapan resident Robert Russel believed that Hofschneider’s team would prevail in this year’s polls.

“I think they’ll contribute to what the incumbent administration missed—to bring in new businesses. The Public School System is in total chaos. We still have kids with no books and the threat of no classes,” Russel said.

Hofschneider slept at 11pm Friday night. He said this was just his usual bedtime and that he had a normal sleep.

“I woke up at 5am and went to church at Mount Carmel in the morning,” he said, adding that he is an early bird. After the Mass he directly went to his precinct at the Garapan Elementary School around 8am and visited his supporters’ tent in front of the school, joining them in welcoming the early voters. Clad in a beige shirt and gray jeans, Hofschneider waved at motorists and shook hands with the voters.

Earlier yesterday morning Hofschneider told the media that he would cast his vote at 11am but, due to required visits to other polling places, he delayed his schedule until late in the afternoon.

Hofschneider estimates that he will win over other candidates by a thousand votes. He said that he would get 36 percent of the total votes and that rivals Babauta and Benigno R. Fitial would be fighting for the second place in the gubernatorial race.

The gubernatorial candidate said he and his supporters would gather last night at their headquarters in Dandan while waiting for the result of the counting of votes at the Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe, which was scheduled to begin at midnight. (Marconi Calindas)

TENORIO CONFIDENT OF VICTORY

Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Froilan C. Tenorio came out of the polling center in San Vicente, full of confidence that he would make it in this year’s elections.

The reason: “I’m the only opposition. I’m fighting against three Republicans.”

He was referring to his opponents: incumbent Republican Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Republican breakaway-turned independent candidate Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, and former Republican Party chair and now Covenant Party standard-bearer, House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial.

“We’re very positive about this election. We picked a lot of votes last week,” said Tenorio, whose party had concentrated on TV, newspaper, and radio ads during the last week of campaign.

Tenorio’s ads targeted people “who are hurt by fuel surcharge fee, and economic hardship.”

He said people in this election voted “for their pocketbooks, meaning the economy.”

“We all know that everybody is hurting. So I’m hoping that everybody who’s against CUC fuel surcharge and want the reinstatement of earned income credit voted for us. If all of us voted, definitely we’ll win,” he said in an interview at San Vicente Elementary School polling center, where he and his wife Grace had cast their votes at about noon.

He concedes that “it’s going to be a close fight,” with Gov. Babauta being his closest rival.

“I don’t underestimate the incumbent governor,” said Tenorio. “But take note that I’m running against three Republicans. Heinz is taking Republican votes. Fitial still has the support of Republican.”

Tenorio had served as governor for one term from 1994 to 1998. He ran under his own Reform Party in the 2001 gubernatorial race but lost to Babauta in the 2001 general elections. He rejoined the Democratic Party last year.

In the 1997 three-way gubernatorial race, Tenorio lost in his re-election bid to his uncle, three-term governor Pete P. Tenorio.

Froilan Tenorio first ran for governor in 1989 against Republican Party’s Larry Guerrero. He lost. After four years, in 1993, he won in a re-match with Guerrero.

Tenorio’s re-entry to the Democratic Party last year came following talks of his alleged failed political alliance with the Covenant Party.

Meantime, Republican Party chair John S. Reyes expressed confidence yesterday in the Babauta-Benavente re-election. “It’s victory!” he said.

He said the GOP supporters were to gather last night at their headquarters in Gualo Rai “for celebration.”

“We will dance. We’ll celebrate,” he said.

On the eve of the election, Babauta expressed trust in the voters.

“This election is in the hands of the voters of the CNMI. I’ve always trusted the decision and the judgment of the people,” he said. (with Marconi Calindas, Agnes E. Donato and Liberty Dones)