The 2005 Northern Mariana Islands general election was held on Saturday, 5 November 2005. Voters in the Northern Mariana Islands voted for the

Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

, the non-voting delegate to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, 6 seats in the

Northern Mariana Islands Senate The Northern Mariana Islands Senate is the upper house of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. The Senate consists of nine senators representing three senatorial districts (Saipan & the Northern Islands, Tinian & Aguijan, a ...

, all eighteen seats in the

Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives The Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives is the lower house of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. In the 2007 election cycle, the CNMI House membership was increased from 18 to 20. Representatives serve two-ye ...

, 3 mayors, seats for the municipal council, seats for the board of education, 2 justices, and a judges. There was also a referendum on calling a Constitutional Convention, which was approved by voters.Northern Mariana Islands, 5 November 2005: Election of a Constitutional Convention
Direct Democracy The gubernatorial election was the closest in the commonwealth's history, and resulted in the election of

Benigno Fitial Benigno Repeki Fitial (born November 27, 1945) is a Northern Marianan politician who served as the seventh governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. The second longest-serving governor in CNMI history, Fitial was elected on November 6, 2005, assum ...

, narrowly defeating independent Heinz Hofschneider by 84 votes and incumbent Republican Governor Juan N. Babauta by an additional 98 votes. This would be the last year that the gubernatorial race would work in a

first-past-the-post voting system First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

as it would be reformed to work under a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

for the 2009 general elections. This election made commonwealth history by electing both the territory's first Carolinian governor and its first

third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

governor.

Background

The referendum on the Constitutional Convention was called in order to comply with Chapter XVIII, article 2 of the constitution, which required a referendum to be held at least every ten years on convening such a convention. A referendum had been due in 2003 as the last referendum had been in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, but the legislature had failed to organise it. 15,118 people registered with the Election Commission to vote.

Gubernatorial election

Candidates

Four candidates ran for governor, each with a running mate:

Covenant Party

* Benigno Repeki Fitial of the Covenant Party, sitting Speaker of the

and 2001 gubernatorial candidate. ** Timothy Pangelinan Villagomez, sitting Northern Mariana Islands Representative and Vice Speaker of the House at the time of the election.

Democratic Party

* Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio of the Democratic Party, former Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands (1994–1998). **Antonio Aguon Santos, educator and teacher.

Independent

* Heinz Sablan Hofschneider, an independent, a sitting member of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives and former Speaker until 2003. Hofschneider is a Republican, but ran as an independent in this election. ** David Mundo Apatang, sitting Northern Mariana Islands Representative.

Republican Party

* Juan Babauta of the Republican Party, incumbent Governor elected in 2001. ** Diego Tenorio Benavente, incumbent Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands elected in 2001.

Results

, - style="background:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" !colspan="2" rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Party !rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Candidate !rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Running mate !colspan="2" , Results , - style="background:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" !width="60" , Votes !width="30" , % , - , style="background:" , , style="text-align:left;" , Covenant , style="text-align:left;" , Benigno Repeki Fitial , style="text-align:left;" , Timothy Pangelinan Villagomez , , % , - , style="background:" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, style="text-align:left;" , Heinz Sablan Hofschneider , style="text-align:left;" , David Mundo Apatang , , % , - , style="background:" , , style="text-align:left;" , Republican , style="text-align:left;" , Juan Nekai Babauta (incumbent) , style="text-align:left;" , Diego Tenorio Benavente (incumbent) , , % , - , style="background:" , , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic , style="text-align:left;" , Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio , style="text-align:left;" , Antonio Aguon Santos , , % , - , colspan="6" style="background:#E9E9E9" , , - !colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" , Total ! !100% , - , colspan="6" style="background:#E9E9E9" , , -

Resident Representative to U.S. Congress

This was the last election to have Resident Representative to U.S. Congress. In 2008, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, signed into law by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, replaced the position of resident representative with a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives. The new position received the power to serve in congressional committees, to introduce bills, and to vote on proposed legislation in committee, but still had limited powers on the House floor, lacking the right to vote on legislation on the House floor.

Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature

Results summary

Senate

The

is the upper house of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature, consisting of nine senators representing three senatorial districts (

Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...

& the Northern Islands,

Tinian Tinian () is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern ...

Aguijan Aguijan (; ; also Aguiguan and Aguihan, based on the Spanish rendition of the native name) is a small bean-shaped uninhabited coralline island in the Northern Mariana Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean. It is situated south-west of Tinian, from ...

, and Rota), each a

Multi-member district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

with three senators. Six seats in the

were up for the 2005 election.

House of Representatives

The

is the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. The house has six districts, several of which are Multi-member districts. All 18 seats in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives were contested in the 2005 election. This was the last election to have 18 members.

Mayors

Three mayoral posts were up for election across the Commonwealth. The elections resulted in the Covenant Party taking all the available positions.

Municipal Council

Board of education

Justices

Both Supreme Court Justices won retention.

Judges

Referendum

References

External links

Election results
Saipan Tribune {{United States elections, 2005 Northern Mariana Northern Mariana

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Referendums in the Northern Mariana Islands