McNinch weighs-in on election results
Political analyst Ron McNinch wasn't on Guam for Election Day, but says there was nothing normal about how it went down.
November 14, 2014Updated: November 14, 2014
By KUAM News
By KUAM News by Ken Quintanilla
Guam - Political analyst and University of Guam professor Ron McNinch wasn't on Guam for Election Day, but says there was nothing normal about how it went down.
"Very interesting general election, great for the Democrats in the Legislature, they did a great job," said McNinch. "For the governor's race it was quite a surprise, I was quite surprised for the final outcome."
The unofficial results of the general election show the democrats once again taking the majority for the Guam Legislature with a 9-6 split and Eddie Calvo-Ray Tenorio overwhelmingly winning the gubernatorial race with over 63% of the vote. "I thought it was settled down below 60, I thought the election would be 55-45 in the normal range for elections," McNinch added.
In a letter to the Guam Election Commission earlier this week, Carl Gutierrez-Gary Gumataotao campaign chairperson Joaquin Perez asked for a manual audit of the general election results for no less than 10 precincts. Perez tells KUAM that he's been involved in every gubernatorial election since the island first had an elected governor in the 1970's and he's never seen a margin won by a gubernatorial candidate like last week's Super Tuesday results. Calvo-Tenorio won every single one of the 58 precincts.
And while he's never seen such a large margin as well, McNinch says based on the results, it's obvious that some Democrats either crossed-over or just didn't vote for Carl Gutierrez. "When former first lady Joann Camacho began politicking at Gutierrez rallies, it reminded those Underwood-Bordallo supporters of what happened in 2002," he recalled. "And in 2006 and it pushed them away in the exact opposite direction and it's pretty clear in this case."
And while the Democratic Party touted unity within their party, McNinch believes the effort led by Senator Rory Respicio worked more for the senatorial race than the gubernatorial. "There wasn't unity for the governor slot and the key signal of that was when Senator Frank Aguon didn't run with Gutierrez, in fact he didn't even decline politely and he declined non-politely in a way, and that set the stage for this," he said.
He adds while it was unusual for a gubernatorial team to take every village, McNinch says Calvo-Tenorio had a fairly wide grassroots effort this time, unlike the 2010 election. McNinch in the meantime says he believes there is no need for a recount and it's time to move on. "I wish the best for Governor Gutierrez, he ran a strong race as he could, minimal resources, started late, so I think there are a lot of factors here. I think the election is over, the winner has been declared and I think the winner should be certified and we move on."
GEC executive director Maria Pangleinan in the meantime says operationally speaking the agency can conduct a manual audit, but whether it should be done remains in the hands of the commission.
REVIEW THE RESULTS FROM THE DECISION 2014 GENERAL ELECTION
Guam - Political analyst and University of Guam professor Ron McNinch wasn't on Guam for Election Day, but says there was nothing normal about how it went down.
"Very interesting general election, great for the Democrats in the Legislature, they did a great job," said McNinch. "For the governor's race it was quite a surprise, I was quite surprised for the final outcome."
The unofficial results of the general election show the democrats once again taking the majority for the Guam Legislature with a 9-6 split and Eddie Calvo-Ray Tenorio overwhelmingly winning the gubernatorial race with over 63% of the vote. "I thought it was settled down below 60, I thought the election would be 55-45 in the normal range for elections," McNinch added.
In a letter to the Guam Election Commission earlier this week, Carl Gutierrez-Gary Gumataotao campaign chairperson Joaquin Perez asked for a manual audit of the general election results for no less than 10 precincts. Perez tells KUAM that he's been involved in every gubernatorial election since the island first had an elected governor in the 1970's and he's never seen a margin won by a gubernatorial candidate like last week's Super Tuesday results. Calvo-Tenorio won every single one of the 58 precincts.
And while he's never seen such a large margin as well, McNinch says based on the results, it's obvious that some Democrats either crossed-over or just didn't vote for Carl Gutierrez. "When former first lady Joann Camacho began politicking at Gutierrez rallies, it reminded those Underwood-Bordallo supporters of what happened in 2002," he recalled. "And in 2006 and it pushed them away in the exact opposite direction and it's pretty clear in this case."
And while the Democratic Party touted unity within their party, McNinch believes the effort led by Senator Rory Respicio worked more for the senatorial race than the gubernatorial. "There wasn't unity for the governor slot and the key signal of that was when Senator Frank Aguon didn't run with Gutierrez, in fact he didn't even decline politely and he declined non-politely in a way, and that set the stage for this," he said.
He adds while it was unusual for a gubernatorial team to take every village, McNinch says Calvo-Tenorio had a fairly wide grassroots effort this time, unlike the 2010 election. McNinch in the meantime says he believes there is no need for a recount and it's time to move on. "I wish the best for Governor Gutierrez, he ran a strong race as he could, minimal resources, started late, so I think there are a lot of factors here. I think the election is over, the winner has been declared and I think the winner should be certified and we move on."
GEC executive director Maria Pangleinan in the meantime says operationally speaking the agency can conduct a manual audit, but whether it should be done remains in the hands of the commission.
REVIEW THE RESULTS FROM THE DECISION 2014 GENERAL ELECTION