2005 Northern Mariana Islands general election

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, the non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives, attorney general, 6 seats in the Northern Mariana Islands Senate, all eighteen seats in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, 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.

The gubernatorial election was the closest in the commonwealth's history, and resulted in the election of Benigno Fitial, 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 as it would be reformed to work under a two-round system for the 2009 general elections. This election made commonwealth history by electing both the territory's first Carolinian governor and its first third party 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, but the Legislature had failed to organise it.

15,118 people registered with the Election Commission to vote.

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

Covenant Party

 * Benigno Repeki Fitial of the Covenant Party, sitting Speaker of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives 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 |3,766 |27.95% |- |style="background:" | |style="text-align:left;" | Independent |style="text-align:left;" | Heinz Sablan Hofschneider |style="text-align:left;" | David Mundo Apatang |3,682 |27.33% |- |style="background:" | |style="text-align:left;" | Republican |style="text-align:left;" | Juan Nekai Babauta (incumbent) |style="text-align:left;" | Diego Tenorio Benavente (incumbent) |3,584 |26.6% |- |style="background:" | |style="text-align:left;" | Democratic |style="text-align:left;" | Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio |style="text-align:left;" | Antonio Aguon Santos |2,440 |18.11% |- |colspan="6" style="background:#E9E9E9" | |- !colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Total !13,472 !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 George W. Bush, 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.

Senate
The Northern Mariana Islands Senate is the upper house of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature, consisting of nine senators representing three senatorial districts (Saipan & the Northern Islands, Tinian & Aguijan, and Rota), each a Multi-member district with three senators. Six seats in the Northern Mariana Islands Senate were up for the 2005 election.

House of Representatives
The Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives is the lower house 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.

Justices
Both Supreme Court Justices won retention.