Samoa's Supreme Court Dismisses Call For Fresh Election Amid Political Deadlock

Samoa's Supreme Court on Monday overruled the call by the island nation's Head of State Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II for a fresh election later this month

SUVA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th May, 2021 ) :Samoa's Supreme Court on Monday overruled the call by the island nation's Head of State Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II for a fresh election later this month.

According to the Samoa Observer daily, the court reinstated the results from April's election and ordered the parliament to convene within 45 days from the general election held on April 9 this year.

This ruling came after the court overruled earlier on Monday another decision to expand the parliament and add a sixth woman MP aligned to the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) to the parliament which would have erased the Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party's 26-25 political lead.

On April 20, Samoa's Office of the Electoral Commission (OEC) said the threshold of 10-percent women representation in the parliament had not been met in this year's general election, which was held on April 9 with the ruling HRPP led by incumbent Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and the FAST led by being former HRPP deputy prime minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa.

The two sides tied on 25 seats each in the parliament.

Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau from the ruling party had been elected on April 20 to the parliament through the statutory mandate ensuring 10 percent of the seats are occupied by women. Her election under the threshold put the HRPP ahead of the FAST with 26-25 seats in parliament respectively.

On April 21, the HRPP and the FAST had been tied on 26 seats each in parliament after a newly-elected independent parliament member decided to join the FAST.

In order to break the political deadlock, Samoa's head of state on May 4 called for a fresh election by May 21, but the FAST disputed that the head of state had the constitutional authority to overrule the results of a democratic election. It filed the constitutional challenge against the OEC and the call for a fresh general elections.

Samoa has a population of more than 190,000. The nation's last general election was held in 2016 with the ruling HRPP winning a landslide victory.