WITH roughly seven months until Election Day, NMI Democratic Party gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Christina Marie “Tina” Sablan and her running mate Rep. Leila Haveia F. Staffler are excited to be running a campaign that, they said, is driven by hope for the people.
“The campaign is going well,” Sablan said. “We’re getting a lot of positive feedback from people who believe in the vision that we’re presenting and the kind of change that we are committed to delivering for the CNMI.”
Sablan said one of the top concerns that they hear about from their CNMI constituents is public corruption.
“People want and deserve a government that is committed to good governance,” she added. “To us — Leila and me — that means a government that is fair and honest and fiscally responsible, a government that really cares about its people and will prioritize very scarce public resources for things that really matter for the long-term development and the well-being of the whole community.”
Sablan said these include healthcare, infrastructure development, and education, to name a few.
She said the goal is to build up institutions and infrastructure so that everyone, including the young people and future generations, can thrive. “That’s the kind of community that we envision and we believe that the CNMI can be one of the best places in the world. What’s held us back has been our governance, has been leadership that hasn’t delivered the transparency and the accountability and the responsible use of public resources that people deserve, and Leila and I are running to change that,” Sablan said.
The other candidates in November are the Republican incumbent Gov. Ralph DLG Torres who is running with Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan; and the independent tandem of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and running mate Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang.
There will be a runoff if none of the gubernatorial candidates win a majority of the total votes cast and counted.
According to the CNMI election law, “The candidates who received the highest and second highest number of votes cast and counted in the general election shall compete in the runoff election.”
