30 Mar 2010

CNMI's northern islands now have a mayor

8:56 am on 30 March 2010

After months of confusion, residents in the northern islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas now have a mayor, after independent candidate, Tobias Aldan, was declared the winner in a special election, held on Saturday.

The Commonwealth Election Commission certified Mr Aldan as the winner after he posted a margin of 20 votes over his lone opponent, Ramona Rebuenog, of the Covenant Party.

A Election Commission official, Robert Guerrero, said a total of 120 votes were counted and certified with Mr Aldan getting 70 votes.

Mr Aldan initially defeated Mr Rebuenog in the election in 2009, but that result was overturned by the courts, but on appeal the Supreme Court ordered a new election.