The Senate declared a vacancy on Friday afternoon following the resignation of Ray N. Yumul, now a certified independent candidate for lieutenant governor in the Nov. 4 general elections.<\/p>\n
Senate President Ralph Torres (R-Saipan) wrote Gov. Eloy S. Inos a letter late Friday afternoon, a day after a Senate session wherein they formally accepted Yumul\u2019s resignation letter. Torres\u2019 office received the resignation letter on Wednesday morning. <\/p>\n
Yumul was Senate floor leader from January 2013 to August 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly, the Senate declares that a vacancy exists at the Senate and respectfully requests your office to call for a special election to fill the vacancy in the Senate pursuant to Article II Section 9 of the Northern Mariana Islands Constitution and 1 CMC 6502. Your immediate attention to this matter is greatly appreciated,\u201d Torres wrote the governor.<\/p>\n
Acting press secretary Ivan Blanco told Saipan Tribune yesterday that a note was prepared Friday to declare a special election but there was no word whether Inos signed it before the governor left for Oregon yesterday.<\/p>\n
The governor is expected to return in time for this Sunday\u2019s Labor Day festivities on Saipan, Blanco said.<\/p>\n
Torres\u2019 letter also was sent a day after the Senate passed on first and final reading a bill that once signed into law would prohibit the seven candidates that were already certified to run for two Senate seats in the Nov. 4 general elections to also run for a special election to fill the third Saipan senatorial seat that Yumul vacated.<\/p>\n
Saipan senatorial candidate Stephen Woodruff, along with some of the candidates, also said if the governor waits just two weeks until Sept. 5 to issue the call for a special election, \u201cthe special election can be held concurrently with the general election as I propose, and no legislative action is required.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holding the two separate elections in one day will save the government $70,000 to $80,000.<\/p>\n
A former Senate legal counsel, Woodruff also suggests that when the governor calls for a special election, he should also proclaim that the currently certified candidates for the general election shall also be deemed candidates in the special election, among other things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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