Guam Gubernatorial Race, Northern Marianas Still Too Close To Call

The governor’s race in Guam is still too close to call with 26 of 58 precincts counted.

The Pacific Daily News reports preliminary election results suggested Democrats will retain the majority in the Guam Legislature and former U.S. Attorney Leonardo Rapadas will be the island’s next attorney general.

The Republican gubernatorial team of Senators Eddie Calvo and Ray Tenorio had 8,557 votes as of 2 a.m., and the Democratic team of former Gov. Carl Gutierrez and Sen. Frank Aguon, Jr., had 8,373 votes.

Democrats were poised to take as many as nine of the Legislature’s 15 seats, with incumbent Senators Tom Ada and Judith Won Pat as the top vote-getters, based on early results.

Voter turnout was greater than 80 percent in some precincts -- a figure supported by the experience at many village polling sites, where ballot boxes reportedly were stuffed to capacity.

And results had yet to emerge in the congressional race in the Northern Marianas by the early hours of this morning.

The Saipan Tribune reports that by 3:45 am local time only 4,278 of the estimated 6,500 votes cast yesterday had been counted.

The paper reported the results were still too close to call with independent candidate Gregorio Sablan only leading his closest rival, Covenant Party candidate Joseph Camacho by 200 votes.

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