{"id":379424,"date":"2022-11-10T06:06:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T20:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=379424"},"modified":"2022-11-10T06:06:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T20:06:47","slug":"sablan-staffler-endorses-palacios-apatang-for-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/sablan-staffler-endorses-palacios-apatang-for-runoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Sablan-Staffler endorses Palacios-Apatang for runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan), left, and Rep. Leila Fleming Staffer (D-Saipan), concede and endorse the candidacies of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang during a press conference at the Democratic Party headquarters on Middle Road yesterday afternoon.\u00a0(LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Democratic Party\u2019s gubernatorial bet, Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan), and her running mate, Rep. Leila Fleming Staffer (D-Saipan), immediately conceded yesterday and endorsed the independent team of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and his running mate, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang for the runoff election.<\/p>\n

In a press conference at the Democratic Party\u2019s headquarters on Middle Road yesterday afternoon, Sablan and Staffler also thanked their supporters and congratulated their opponents \u201cfor the success of their respective campaigns as they head into the runoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her concession speech, Sablan said, \u201cMost of the ballots have been counted by now and the writing is on the wall. It is not the outcome that Leila and I hoped for, but it is an outcome we accept.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan said that she and Fleming are asking all of their supporters to vote for Palacios and Apatang in the runoff. \u201cThey are the better choice. And they can surely expect that we will hold them to the same standards of honesty, fairness, and accountability that Leila and I hold ourselves to,\u201d\u00a0she added.<\/p>\n

The long-awaited\u00a0Commonwealth Election Commission\u2019s unofficial tabulation results\u00a0of the general elections show\u00a0that the Palacios-Apatang tandem will be squaring off with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and his running mate, Sen. Vinnie Vinson F. Sablan (R-Saipan), in the runoff.<\/p>\n

When asked to elaborate on their decision to endorse Palacios, Sablan said, \u201cWe were the ticket running for real change and on a platform of good governance. And now that we are not going to be in \u200b\u200bthe runoff, the better option from our perspective is Arnold Palacios and David Apatang. We have good relationships with the lieutenant governor and with the mayor. I know both of them for a long time, I do have a lot of respect for their service. \u200b\u200bAnd what is clear\u2026to Leila and me is that we simply cannot afford another four years with Ralph Torres. So that is the choice that is before us, and the choice that we\u2019re asking people to make\u2014all of our supporters to make\u2014is to support Arnold and Dave in the run-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their messages to their supporters, Staffler said they are humbled by the support and proud of the campaign \u201cthat we ran and the plans that we made. We are proud to have made history and put more cracks in that glass ceiling for the next woman or women who plan to run for this office…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all of our dear, dear supporters, especially those who couldn\u2019t vote yet\u2014the youth of the CNMI\u2014don\u2019t lose faith, we cannot lose hope. We cannot lose hope that good governance can exist in the Marianas. It just might take more time to get there. And we need all of you, our whole community, to keep pushing for the change that we want to see. As for me, I\u2019ll be here for the long haul, doing whatever that I can do, so that I can leave this place better than I found it,\u201d Fleming said.<\/p>\n

Sablan thanked their supporters as well: \u201cFrom the bottom of our hearts, we also thank our incredible team of supporters, volunteers, donors, Democratic Party leaders, and fellow candidates, as well as our families for an amazing campaign. It was clean, issue-driven and spirited. It was fun. It was inspiring. It was historic in many ways. We ran on a platform of good governance. And we did it with love for islands, and a hopeful vision for our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

She counseled their supporters not to despair. \u201cDon\u2019t lose hope. Keep the faith and get out and vote. Beyond the runoff election, and regardless of the results, our Commonwealth needs us all to continue to fight the good fight. Fight the good fight for a future we can be proud of,\u201d said Sablan.<\/p>\n

Both Sablan and Staffler said their efforts will not end with the election. \u201cOur hearts are here, we will serve out the remainder of our terms as legislators and we thank the people of the Marianas, and especially the people\u2026who have given us the great honor of representing them. We will seek other ways to serve our community after our terms have ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the prolonged ballot counting that took place, Sablan said that many who have been watching the election very closely have been dismayed by how long it took to get all of the ballots counted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there are still some discrepancies, I think, in the numbers that have been reported, and a lot of confusion about what the final tallies are for each of the candidates. And I don\u2019t understand\u2014I really don\u2019t understand why\u2014why we still have glitches like this in our election process when we do this every two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan believes it is important that the CNMI revisit an issue about the lack of standard operating procedures at the Commonwealth Election Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we bring it up every two years, every time there\u2019s an election, and that still hasn\u2019t been developed yet. \u2026But part of ensuring the fairness and freedom of an election is also making sure that the information is accurate, and that the public can trust the process as a result. So there\u2019s definitely some room for improvement\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0CEC\u2019s website, votecnmi,gov.mp, shows as of press time, its listing of the election results \u201care currently under review.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic Party\u2019s gubernatorial bet, Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan), and her running mate, Rep….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":379425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}