By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

WITH a group of concerned citizens now pushing an initiative to amend the CNMI Constitution to ensure that the governor and the lt. governor-elect get the majority of votes cast, the House of Representatives may finally act on House Legislative Initiative 15-16 which has a similar intent.
House Minority Leader Rep. Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, the principal author of H.L.I. 15-16, said the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations chaired by Rep. Cinta M. Kaipat, Covenant-Saipan, agreed to prioritize action on the legislative initiative which was introduced on Feb. 20, 2007.
Co-sponsored by Reps. Manuel A. Tenorio, R-Saipan, Candido B. Taman, R-Saipan, Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, and Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, H.L.I. 15-16 seeks to amend Article III, Section 4 of the CNMI Constitution so that a runoff election for governor and lt. governor will be held if no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast for that office in a general election.
The next gubernatorial election in the Northern Marianas is scheduled for 2009.
An affirmative vote of three-fourths of the members of each house present and voting is needed so that the legislative initiative can be included on the ballot for the midterm elections this November.
Over 14,000 voters registered for the 2005 elections.
But just over a quarter of them voted for Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez in the four-way gubernatorial race.
Palacios said the legislative initiative will require that the winning team garner 50 percent + 1 of the votes cast to win.
“True democracy would be achieved if a majority of the people rather than a fraction of the people elected the governor and the lt. governor,” he said. Second, the legitimacy and credibility of the governor and the lt. governor will not be questioned because they received a majority or more than one half of the total votes cast for their offices. Third, the people of the commonwealth will have confidence in the governor and the lt. governor’s credibility to lead the people.”
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the administration does not object to the runoff election proposals. “We respect the democratic process,” he said.