SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands — Gov. Benigno R. Fitial of the Covenant Party has been certified the winner of a runoff election to serve a second term as governor of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Nov. 23 runoff between Fitial and Republican Rep. Heinz Hofschneider was needed because neither they nor two other candidates managed to garner more than 50 percent of votes cast in the Nov. 7 election.
Hofschneider received eight more votes than Fitial in the initial election.
But Monday’s certified vote total showed Fitial received 6,610 votes to Hofschneider’s 6,240 in the runoff.
Fitial is the first CNMI governor to be re-elected since Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio won a second term in 1985. Fitial founded the Covenant Party in 2001 after leaving the Republican Party.