2001–2013 political party in the Northern Mariana Islands
The Covenant Party was a political party in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The party was founded in 2001, splitting from the Republican Party and was dissolved in 2013, with the party merging back into the Republican Party. The party advocated for governmental and financial reform.
History.
2001 – 2008.
The party was named after the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, Act of Mar. 24, 1976, Pub. L. 94-241, 90 Stat. 263, "codified as amended at" 48 U.S.C. § 1801 note.
In the 2003 general election, the Covenant Party won nine of eighteen seats. The party mostly made up of members from the Republican Party, but many prominent Democrats would also join the party.
In the 2005 general elections, the Covenant Party increased its position as one of the strongest parties in the Commonwealth when Benigno R. Fitial, the party's gubernatorial candidate, won the election. The Covenant Party won seven of eighteen seats in the commonwealth's House of Representatives and three of nine seats in its Senate.
In the 2007 general election, the Covenant Party won only four of twenty seats in the House of Representatives. The party maintained three seats in senate.
Scandal.
In August 2008, Villagomez was indicted on felony charges relating to the misuse of government funds. On April 24, 2009, he was found guilty along with former Commerce Secretary James A. Santos and his wife Joaquina V. Santos (Villagomez's sister) relating to a scheme to defraud the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. through needless purchases of a de-scaling chemical called Rydlyme. Awaiting sentencing on July 28, 2009, Villagomez tendered his resignation on April 24.
2009 – 2013.
In December 2010, Governor Benigno Fitial proposed that the Covenant Party merge with the Republican Party. Republican and Covenant Party leaders rejected the proposal, and the Covenant Party contested the 2012 general elections. Governor Benigno Fitial would leave the Covenant Party and rejoin the Republican Party, passing leadership to Eloy Inos. In 2012, the Covenant Party endorsed then-independent Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan whom Benigno Fitial wanted replaced with a Republican in the 2012 elections.
In September 2013, Governor Eloy Inos again tried to merge the Covenant Party with the Republican Party. The party is considered dissolved when Inos departed the party and rejoined the Republican Party in 2013. Many left the party soon after, most moving to the Republican Party, making it a Republican Party absorption of the Covenant Party. On August 19, 2021, during an interview on the 2022 gubernatorial election, Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios mentioned that the Republican Party did vote to approve the merger in 2013.
References.
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