The Commonwealth Election Commission is expected to certify the results of the 2026 general election Friday, formally triggering a 14-day countdown to runoff elections on Nov. 20 for governor and attorney general, according to CEC Executive Director Kayla Igitol Magofna.
Magofna said Thursday that election commissioners are scheduled to certify the official results, setting into motion preparations for the runoff election required under CNMI law when no candidate secures more than 50% of all votes cast and counted.
"So we have to have an election 14 days after," Magofna said.
The certification will finalize results from the Nov. 3 general election and establish the timeline for distributing runoff ballots and preparing polling sites across the Commonwealth.
According to the CEC, absentee voters who requested ballots for the general election will automatically receive absentee ballots for the runoff election. Election officials said no new requests for overseas absentee ballots will be accepted, although over-the-counter absentee voting will remain available.
Earlier, the commission mailed out 1,420 absentee ballots for the general election. Election officials counted 886 absentee ballots in the final tabulation and noted that ballots had to be received on Saipan on or before Election Day to be included in the certified results.
For the runoff election, the commission said it will continue to receive absentee ballots for up to 14 days after Election Day pursuant to its established procedures.
The certified results are expected to confirm runoff contests in both the governor's and attorney general's races.
In the gubernatorial contest, the Republican ticket of Ralph DLG Torres and Benjamin Jones Jr. led the field with 6,437 votes, or 49.5% of ballots cast, narrowly missing the majority needed to avoid a runoff. The independent ticket of Blas Jonathan Attao and Edmund Villagomez finished second with 5,043 votes, or 38.7%, advancing to the Nov. 20 runoff.
The independent team of Lawrence F. Camacho and Edith Deleon Guerrero placed third with 1,537 votes, or 11.8%.
The attorney general race also failed to produce a majority winner. Attorney Joaquin DLG Torres received 5,073 votes, or 39.7%, while attorney Michael Evangelista secured 3,854 votes, or 30.2%. Attorney Jonathan Robert Glass Jr. followed closely with 3,836 votes, or 30.1%.
Under CNMI law, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff when no gubernatorial candidate or attorney general candidate receives more than half of all votes cast and counted.
The Commonwealth had 18,521 registered voters for the 2026 election. More than 13,000 voters cast ballots in the gubernatorial race, leaving roughly 5,500 registered voters who did not participate.
Election officials said registered voters who did not vote in the general election remain eligible to cast ballots in the Nov. 20 runoff election.
With certification anticipated Friday, election administrators will have two weeks to complete preparations for what is expected to be a closely watched runoff that will determine the Commonwealth's next governor and attorney general.
