By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

EXCEPT for Rep. Benjamin B. Seman of Precinct 1, the rest of the seven House Republicans have submitted letters of intent to seek re-election, according to GOP secretary Kimo M. Rosario.
The GOP’s deadline for the submission of the letters was 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Rosario said precinct clubs had enough aspirants to nominate.
In Precinct 4, four Republicans are after two House seats and it will be up to precinct club officers to choose the two nominees.
The incumbent GOP House members seeking re-election are Precinct 1’s Martin B. Ada, Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero and Manuel A. Tenorio; Precinct 3’s Arnold I. Palacios and Ramon A. Tebuteb; and Precinct 4’s Candido B. Taman.
Except for former Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente of Precinct 1, former Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider of Precinct 3 and former Rep. David M. Apatang of Precinct 1, who will be running for the House, Rosario declined to reveal the names of the other GOP aspirants.
He said these will be disclosed as soon as the GOP’s board of directors approves the nominations to be submitted by the precinct clubs.
In the Senate, the incumbent Republican senator seeking re-election is Rota’s Paul A. Manglona.
For Saipan’s open Senate seat, Rep. Stanley T. Torrres and former Rep. Benjamin A. Sablan are seeking the GOP nomination.
Rosario said it is too early to tell whether the Republican will hold a primary or not.
He said the party’s bylaws, as amended, do not provide a mechanism for conducting primaries but “this does not restrict the party’s leadership from conducting primaries which would probably require either a suspension of the rules or further amendments to the by-laws.”
Rosario said primaries are usually conducted when the number of candidates is larger than the number of seats to be filled.
It was the GOP’s unprecedented decision not to hold a gubernatorial primary that led to a split in 2005 and its worst election defeat in commonwealth history.