LOS ANGELES — April 6 is the deadline for candidates wanting to run for the vacated 32nd Congressional District seat in the May 19 special election.

The special election date was set two weeks ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Hilda Solis, who resigned to become secretary of labor in the Obama administration.

Already nine candidates have taken out nomination papers from the county Registrar of Voters for the job. Ironically, none of the top three contenders for the seat have taken out papers yet.

State Sen. Gil Cedillo, state Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu and El Sereno native Emanuel Pleitez, who served on the Obama transition team for the Treasury Department are considered by political observers as the top contenders for the seat. All are Democrats.

The nine who have taken out nomination papers have all chosen to collect nomination signatures instead of paying a nomination filing fee.

They include Democrats Francisco Alonso of Monterey Park, Andres Estrada of East Los Angeles, Stefan Lysenko of Van Nuys, Rafael Nadal of Rosemead and Margarita Wong of San Gabriel; Republicans Wayne Blake of Azusa, Teresa Hernandez of El Monte, William “Rodriguez” Morrison of Boyle Heights and Salvador Santana of West Covina; Libertarian Christopher Agrella of Montclair and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Howard Johnson of South Los Angeles.

Candidates choosing to gather signatures rather than pay a filing fee must submit the signatures by Monday. They may submit replacements for any invalid signatures up to April 6.

The primary election will be held the same day as a special statewide election to vote on various issues in conjunction with the 2009-10 fiscal year budget that was approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor last month.

A runoff will be held July 14 should no candidate get more than 50 percent. The runoff would feature the top vote-getters from each political party during the primary election.

The 32nd Congressional District includes portions of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley.