"Samoa's first female leader, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, has failed to win a majority in the Pacific nation's elections this week, capping months of political infighting. Official results published by the electoral commission on Friday showed the opposition Fast party won 30 out of the 50 contested seats in parliament. That means Fast's leader, La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt, is most likely to be sworn in as prime minister."
"Fiame was elected as the country's first female leader in 2021. Her term got off to a rocky start after a knife-edge election result led to legal challenges and constitutional manoeuvring that left the country without a functioning government for 45 days. The country's first female prime minister was sworn in under a marquee outside parliament after being locked out of the chamber."
The opposition Fast party won 30 of the 50 contested parliamentary seats, making its leader La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt most likely to become prime minister. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa's newly formed Sup party secured only three seats after she was ousted from Fast following a 2023 cabinet dispute involving criminal charges against La'aulialemalietoa. Fiame launched legal action accusing him of spreading conspiracy theories during the campaign. Fiame became the country's first female leader in 2021 but faced a knife-edge result, 45 days without a functioning government, lockdown from parliament, widespread blackouts, a state of emergency, and a rejected budget that led to dissolution.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]