Mata’afa to become Samoa’s first woman PM
APIA: Fiame Naomi Mata’afa is poised to become Samoa’s first female prime minister, after the Pacific nation’s top court yesterday helped break a monthlong political impasse that followed a tightly contested April election.
The Supreme Court overruled an attempt by head of state Tuimalealiifano Va’aleto’a Sualauvi II to void the election results, local media reported.
Earlier yesterday, the court rejected the postelection creation of an additional parliamentary seat by the electoral commission that briefly gave the incumbent government a majority.
The court decisions clear the path for the Fa’atuatua i le Atua
Samoa ua Tasi Party (Fast Party) to form a government, ending the rule of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who has governed for more than two decades.
It was not clear if there were legislative or legal avenues open to Tuilaepa to challenge Mata’afa, who now has a slim majority in the 51member parliament.
Dressed in red, Mata’afa’s supporters celebrated the legal decisions by singing outside the court in the capital, Apia.
Mata’afa is a former deputy prime minister who split with the Government last year after opposing changes to Samoa’s constitution and judicial system.
Tuilaepa has also faced criticism over his handling of a measles crisis in 2019 which killed 83, mainly young people, and the Government’s close relationship with China.
Samoa has a strong history of migration. About onesixth of its 200,000 residents are of mixed Samoan and Chinese descent.
The nation shut its borders early in the Covid19 pandemic and has avoided widespread community transmission of Covid19 infections.