‘We’re going to be ready for runoff’

Arnold I. Palacios and David M. Apatang

Gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and his running mate, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, are set to face off against incumbent Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and his running mate Sen. Vinnie Sablan (R-Saipan) in a runoff election in the weeks to come. Apatang assured yesterday that he and his AD team are ready to win this runoff election. AD refers to the two candidate’s first names “Arnold-David” and is their name for their team.

Following the tabulation of ballots after the general election last Tuesday, the unofficial results showed that the Palacios-Apatang tandem will vie for the chance at the governor and lieutenant governor positions in a runoff election that is tentatively set for Nov. 25.

A runoff is warranted to determine the next sitting governor when not one gubernatorial pair gains more than 50% of the votes cast in an election.

In a brief statement from Apatang, he said that, although he and Palacios did not expect a runoff, they are ready to do their best to win it.

“We weren’t expecting a runoff. We were actually working very hard to avoid a runoff but, unfortunately, I’m not sure what happened, but now that we’re here, we will just have to do our best to win this runoff election. We are going to be ready for this runoff,” he said.

In addition, Apatang said he wants to thank all those who supported him and his running mate, Palacios, because their faith in their leadership is what drives them to fight for the governor and lieutenant governor positions.

“We were really surprised with the turnout. We just want to say thank you to all our supporters and for believing in us. We’re going to be working very hard for this runoff. I just want to ask our supporters to continue to join us and work with us and let us get together and win this runoff,” he said.

Saipan Tribune tried to obtain comments from Palacios, but was unable to get a response as of press time.

The AD duo will face off with the Torres-Sablan tandem, which received the highest number of votes in the general election. The Torres team got a 38.83 % share of the total votes cast, while the Palacios team got a 33.16% share.

The AD pair gained a total of 4,890 votes, just 836 votes short of the Torres-Sablan duo, which garnered a total of 5,726 votes in total.

Of the 4,890 votes the Palacios Apatang partnership garnered, 2,204 were from Election Day voters, 2,129 came from early voters, and 557 were from absentee ballots.