Northern Marianas College regent Rita H. Inos, who twice ran for lt. governor, said blood ties still matter in CNMI, but they no longer guarantee an election victory.
Dr. Inos, a former education commissioner, said many families still gather to discuss who to choose in an election year.
But this trend is changing, she added.
The younger voters are now the ones influencing their parents when choosing CNMI leaders, Inos said.
In the past, she added, “the youth was not able to say anything. We listened to the elders even though we didn’t agree with them. We didn’t talk about it.”
But these days, she said, the members of young generation are more willing to engage their parents and older relatives in a political conversation and even in the choice of candidates.
Elections, she said, are now a regular topic of conversation at the dining table.
This year, the CNMI will elect its first congressional delegate. Next year, the islands will elect a governor, six senators and 20 House members.
The members of younger generation no longer vote based on family ties but on the issues, Inos said.
There are hurt feelings, she added, when younger members defy the family’s decision.
“But the hurt feelings do not last long because we have a way of healing them,” she said, adding that family is still very important for the CNMI people.
At the end of the day, she said, voting is an individual decision.
“Once you go into the voting booth it’s really up to you to make the final determination,” Inos said.
Former Rep. Danny O. Quitugua, who is also a former Board of Education chairman, said family ties are no longer as strong as before.
Families, he added, still matter among politicians when making the decision to run, but they are no longer the most important “criterion.”
He said that changes in the voting pattern can be attributed to people who are getting more educated than their elders.
The younger generation, he said, want to make intelligent decisions and are aware of the value of making an independent judgment when electing leaders.
“Nowadays, you see more (members of) the younger generation going abroad, getting educated and seeing the value of selecting candidates based on qualifications,” he said.
He noticed this change five to six years ago.
Quitugua, a former Democratic Party chairman who was elected to the House in 2001 on the Republican ticket, said the importance of political affiliations is also diminishing.
“They are no longer as strong as they used to be,” he said. “This could be the reason many are running as Independent candidates.”
Joe Sanchez, one of the CNMI’s long-time educators, said as more voters become more educated the importance of family ties in elections will further decrease.
Sanchez said family ties still matter “because no matter where you go, you will have to depend on your family first.”
But, he added, “we are now moving away from that dependence so we could elect somebody that has the ability to make a difference in our community.”
There are no longer loyal or devoted voters — only educated voters, he added.
Nowadays, he said, many young voters are saying, “I don’t need uncle because he cannot do the job. I’ll vote for Mr. so and so because he can do it.”
Sanchez believes that electing candidates based on family ties has contributed to some of the problems the CNMI is facing now.
Former Education Commissioner Liz D. Rechebei said family ties still matter to some extent but not as much as in the past.
People used to vote along family ties, but “I don’t think it’s like that anymore,” she said, adding that more people are more independent minded now.
Voters now check the candidates’ background, educational level and stand on the issues.
Republican Party secretary L.J. Castro, a member of the young generation, said family ties should not even be considered when electing candidates.
He said people should vote based on the candidates’ platforms and not who they are related to.
Herman Tudela, a traditional fishing advocate, said although he still see some people considering their families when electing candidates, this practice “is not really strong nowadays.”
“I guess the reason why we’re in this predicament is because we elected people based on family ties,” he said.
But the people, especially the younger generation, are starting to wake up now, he said.
“The members of younger generation are the ones that are actually affected by the election results, so it’s a good thing that they are the ones taking the lead to change local politics,” he said. “Never mind your uncle — when you step into that booth, nobody knows who you’re voting for anyway.”
