Mafnas

Cnmi’S

Jesus Mafnas dies with Hillblom

By David North

One of the three victims of the crash of Larry Hillblom’s plane was Jesus Mafnas, 51, vice-Speaker of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands House of Delegates.

One of the founders of the CNMI Republican Party, Mafnas served as one of the delegates from Saipan, the most populous island in the ter ritory.

He was the first member of the CNMI legislature to die in office and his death set in motion a previ ously little-noticed provision in the CNMI constitution which calls for the governor to fill the vacancy by appointing the losing candidate for the seat in question who had the largest number of votes in the elec tion that chose the dead person. In this case, it is Crispin D. L.

Guerrero. If the person with the largest number of votes declines then the Governor is to go to the per son with the next largest votes.

This provision is rare in democra cies, usually there is a special elec tion or, if the remnant of the term is short, a vacancy persists. Given the

multiple-member seats in Saipan’s

House of Delegates, the ranking los ing candidate could either be an unsuccessful ally of the late legisla tor or his bitter enemy. On Tinian and Rota, which get single seats in the House of Delegates, the provi sion would surely lead to the appointment of an opponent of the dead delegate.