The Samoan Court of Appeal yesterday rejected a last-minute bid to prevent the opposition from taking power, paving the way for the Pacific nation’s first change of government in almost 40 years.
The ruling means parliament can sit on Monday, when the opposition FAST party’s leader Fiame Naomi Mata’afa is expected to be installed as Samoa’s first female prime minister.
“In God’s name, let change begin! Time to get to work for our people!” FAST wrote on Facebook after the decision.
Phtoto: AP / FAST party
It was the latest twist in a six-week standoff following an April 9 general election, which has resulted in numerous legal challenges and appeals.
Should the results stand, Mata’afa’s party would hold 26 seats in the 51-seat parliament, one more than the incumbent Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP).
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who has held the top job for 22 years, appears to be out of legal avenues to challenge the result, but further surprises cannot be ruled out.
When it initially appeared FAST was edging ahead, he evened the ledger by having an extra lawmaker assigned to his party under provisions setting out the minimum quota of women in parliament.
He then persuaded Samoan Head of State Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi to call a second election for yesterday.
The courts overturned both measures this week and appeal judges yesterday declined HRPP’s bid for a stay on the rulings.
It leaves the nation of 220,000 on the brink of a seismic political shift unthinkable when FAST formed in July last year.
Samoa gained independence in 1962 after nearly 50 years as a New Zealand protectorate and HRPP has been in power since 1982, apart from a brief coalition period from 1986 to 1987.
Mata’afa is the daughter of the independent nation’s first prime minister and is seen as a pioneering feminist in the conservative, staunchly religious nation.
She was previously an HRPP member and served as Malielegaoi’s deputy until they fell out last year over a suite of controversial laws to control the judiciary.
She said this week that HRPP had begun to abuse its power and it was time to make Samoa a functioning democracy again.
“I think what people are saying is we haven’t had a participatory government for a long time and they would like to be more engaged in the process of governance,” Mata’afa told TVNZ.
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