Margot
Staunton, Senior Journalist
In its latest
attempt to oust Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, Samoa’s
FAST Party is taking legal action to try and secure an early
general election.
However, Fiame poured cold water on
the idea, saying she doubted parliament would agree to
it.
FAST chairman La’auli Leuatea Schmidt, who was terminated
as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in January,
says the party is seeking a Supreme Court ruling on whether
it is legal for Fiame to rule with a minority
government.
“Where else in the world do you see this?
It’s unconstitutional,” he told RNZ
Pacific.
“Parliament should be dissolved as soon as
possible and next year’s election brought forward, in a bid
to peacefully resolve the ongoing political crisis,” he
said.
Fiame’s response was swift.
“What crisis?
You know the country is running and the thing is, [La’auli]
may well call for it, but it wont happen until parliament
meets.”
She said the latest twist came as no surprise
to her.
“The only way it [an early general election]
will happen is if the opposition party agrees to it. At the
moment, it would seem unlikely, but you never know,” she
said.
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La’auli rejected that idea, saying the leader of
the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) Tuilaepa Sailele
Malielegaoi was “too unreliable.”
“I don’t care
whether he agrees or not, we have the numbers,” he
said.
How did Samoa get here?
The political
stalemate was prompted by a split in the FAST Party in
January, which saw Fiame remove La’auli and several FAST
ministers from her Cabinet.
He, in turn, rejected her
from FAST, leaving her isolated and leading a minority
government.
Parliament consists of 51 members and two
reserve seats for women.
The FAST Party has 20 MPs,
the HRPP 18, and Fiame 15, including herself.
The
Prime Minister’s supporters include five Independent MPs and
nine MPs still registered with FAST, which would
theoretically give the party a majority of 29.
Members
of FAST had called for the Prime Minister to step down and
allow the party to continue holding office under new
leadership.
However, Fiame refused and has survived
two leadership challenges so far this year.
She
defeated a vote of no confidence in February by 34 votes to
15, after weeks of political turmoil.
La’auli voted
alongside Fiame to defeat the motion moved by Tuilaepa
against her.
A week later, she overcame a second no
confidence vote by 32 votes to 14.
This time, Tuilaepa
voted with her to defeat the motion moved by
La’auli.
RNZ Pacific has made multiple attempts to
contact Tuilaepa for comment on the latest call for an early
election.
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