In the first election after the ratification of the Constitution, the senator with the third-highest number of votes held their seat for two years.

[1] Requirements for senator are a minimum age of 25, residence in the Commonwealth for five years, and a registered voter in the district represented.

2989 by federal Interior Secretary Thomas S. Kleppe effective April 1, 1976, replacing the less autonomous Mariana Islands District Legislature.

The cabinet-level order reorganized local government in the commonwealth to reflect its greater self-government, which had established a political union with the United States in the previous year under a public plebiscite.

The Commonwealth was officially established in January 1978, and as the constitution prescribed, the first House of Representatives had 14 members (12 from Saipan).