Pitched battles for seats at the Legislature

The contests for the Senate and the House of Representatives proved to be as close as that for the gubernatorial post, based on partial election results.

The six-way fight for the two available senatorial seats for Saipan has been narrowed into a three-way contest among Democratic candidate Maria Pangelinan, independent candidate Pete Reyes, and Covenant Party candidate Claudio Norita.

Pangelinan leads with 4,490 votes compared to Reyes’ 4,097 and Norita’s 4,035 votes.

A total of 1,105 Saipan voters have registered to vote absentee. Their votes will not be counted until Nov. 19.

Norita enjoys a margin of 1,462 votes over the closest candidate, incumbent Sen. Thomas Villagomez who got only 2,573 votes. The two other candidates—Andrew Salas and Joaquin Quitugua—received 2,490 and 913 votes, respectively.

The two Tinian senatorial seats are even more hotly contested. The margin between the top candidate and the lowest one represents only 53 votes.

Leading in the four-way race is incumbent Sen. Joseph Mendiola with 513 votes. He posted a margin of 40 votes—the biggest in the race—over closest rival Jude Hofschneider, who got 473 votes.

Joaquin Borja has 462 votes, followed very closely by Ramon Dela Cruz with 460 votes.

There are a total of 154 absentee voters who registered on Tinian.

Four of the original six candidates are still fighting it out for the two Rota senatorial seats.

They are Felix Mendiola with 555 votes, Jovita Taimanao with 516 votes, Paterno Hocog with 505 votes, and Diego Songao with 438 votes.

Although it is not likely to happen, Eusebio Hocog may still win with his current 172 votes, if he earns the support of at least 266 of the 267 absentee voters in Rota.

For Precinct 1 representatives, the top six candidates are Joseph Deleon Guerrero with 2,185 votes; Martin B. Ada with 2,043 votes; Benjamin Seman with 2,031 votes; Manuel Tenorio with 1,862 votes; Florencio “Bobby Pan” Deleon Guerrero with 1,832 votes; and Cinta Kaipat with 1,755 votes.

Since there are 537 absentee voters in Precinct 1, it is still mathematically possible for seven other candidates to make it to the top six list.

They are Edward Salas, who currently has 1,684 votes; Janet U. Maratita, 1,618 votes; Ramon Basa, 1,566 votes; Antonio Camacho, 1,463 votes; Rose Ada-Hocog and Jesus Muna, 1,235 votes each; and Juan Deleon Guerrero, 1,227 votes.

In Precinct 2, incumbents Oscar Babauta and Jesus Lizama are sure winners. They got 575 votes and 440 votes respectively.

The only other candidate, Eric Atalig, received only 370 votes, not enough to keep him in the race. There are only 48 absentee voters in Precinct 2.

In Precinct 3, the top candidates for representative are Arnold Palacios with 1,243 votes; Ray Yumul, 1,086 votes; Ramon Tebuteb, 1,070 votes; Francisco Dela Cruz, 1,034 votes; and Absalon Victor Waki Jr., 937 votes.

Melvin Faisao and Stanley Torres are tied at sixth place, with 910 votes apiece.

Still in the race are Henry Rabauliman, who has 901 votes; Howard Macaranas, 845 votes; and David Sablan, 643 votes.

There are 281 absentee voters in Precinct 3.

Rep. Justo Quitugua has secured one of the two seats for Precinct 4 representative, with 1,283 votes.

Meanwhile, it’s a fight between Candido Taman and Gonzalo Santos for the second Precinct 4 seat. They got 778 votes and 563 votes respectively.

Precinct 4 has 239 absentee voters.

The race for Tinian representative is too close to call, with Edwin Aldan posting 487 votes and incumbent Rep. Norman Palacios garnering 441 votes.

Incumbent Rep. Crispin Ogo is almost assured of victory on Rota. He is leading with 698 votes to Juan Ayuyu’s 444 votes. There are 267 absentee voters on Rota.