“I don’t think that the Republican Party has anything to offer to the CNMI it terms of what can be done to alleviate our situation,” he said.
The U.S. Republicans in Congress, he noted, are trying to reduce federal financial assistance that the CNMI needs.
Last Saturday, CNMI Republicans led by former Gov. Juan N. Babauta said 1,000 Covenant Party members joined the local GOP.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial earlier re-joined the GOP and said he wanted Inos to do the same. The governor is now in the U.S. with Babauta.
Inos, who has said that he is sticking with the Covenant Party, doubts if the 1,000 new GOP members were all from the Covenant party.
“Don’t be surprised if there are many Republicans who will now join the Covenant,” he added.
A former Republican official who declined to be identified because he works for the government confirmed that “there are many disgruntled Republicans” who want to abandon their party.
He said some of them may go independent while others are already attending Covenant Party precinct club meetings.
Asked if it is “healthy” for the CNMI to have no opposition party, Inos said “it depends on one’s perspective.”
It is good to have opposing views that can maintain checks and balances in the government, he said.
On the other hand, many things will get resolved quickly if there is less opposition, he added.
Besides, he said, there will always be factions in a single party.
Ed Propst, a concerned citizen, said despite the merger of the GOP and Covenant parties, there are many people who will continue to oppose the administration.
He added that when election comes, there will be a strong slate of independent candidates.
He hopes that this new realignment of political forces will allow the Democrats to regroup and form a strong party again.
Since 2001, the local Democratic Party has ceased to be one of the two major political parties in the CNMI.
