Hopes For Peaceful End To Samoa’s Constitutional Crisis

Foreign Affairs

Samoa faces a constitutional crisis, with political parties holding rival claims to power and the caretaker government disregarding judicial rulings. But there is still hope for a peaceful resolution within and outside the country, Sam Sachdeva reports

The Samoan people now face duelling governments who each claim political power, in a constitutional crisis testing the country’s democratic processes.

After the April 9 election, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi’s long-governing Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) was in a dead heat with rival Fiame Naomi Mata’afa’s Faatuatua i Le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST), each on 25 seats in a 51-seat Fono.

However, the Samoa Electoral Commission subsequently ruled the election result had not met a constitutional requirement for at least 10 percent of the country’s MPs to be women, creating an extra seat for one additional female politician – an HRPP candidate. Independent MP Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio subsequently sided with FAST, leading to a 26-26 deadlock.

Samoa’s head of state Tuimalealiifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II announced new elections would take place to resolve the stalemate – but the country’s Supreme Court later threw out both that decision and the creation of the extra women’s seat, seeming to pave the way for Mata’afa to become the country’s first female prime minister.

But Sualuavi reversed an initial decision to convene Parliament for the new government to be sworn in, and despite the Supreme Court ruling the suspension of Parliament unlawful, the doors of the Fono were locked when the FAST MPs and judiciary arrived for the ceremony on Monday morning.

In a press conference (translated into English by Samoan journalist Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson) Malielegaoi said there was “only one government and Samoa” and it would continue to fulfil its role, even if it was in a caretaker capacity.

“They are trying to use force to open the House of Parliament. That’s breaking and entering. We will need to address that and do something about it.”

“The Parliament house is owned by the government and since there is no new government, all public servants listen to that government, and I as the Prime Minister and Minister of Cabinet and [there is] just one Head of State that they all listen to.”

He claimed Mata’afa and FAST had “desecrated the grounds of Parliament and…made a ruckus in our hallowed grounds.

“They are trying to use force to open the House of Parliament. That’s breaking and entering. We will need to address that and do something about it.”

Deprived of access to the Parliament, Mata’afa and FAST took to a tent on the lawn outside to conduct their own swearing-in ceremony (although the head of state and judiciary were not present).

Malielegaoi subsequently condemned the event as “treason and the highest form of illegal conduct” and said he would be taking action as a result.

‘I cannot see the end of the tunnel’

Political commentator and former Samoa Observer editor Mata’afa Keni Lesa told Newsroom there was a mood of “shock and sheer sadness” among many Samoans following Monday’s events.

“It was meant to be a great day for new members of Parliament, especially the FAST party [which] was supposed to take over government: it turned out quite differently, so I think people are still coming to terms with what happened.”

Lesa said the constitutional crisis had exceeded even the most pessimistic projections heading into the election, and it remained unclear how the country’s political system would resolve the matter.

“I did say that this election was going to be extremely difficult, it was going to be a very challenging election, and it was going to get ugly [but] I didn’t think that it was going to get this ugly – the worst part is I just cannot see the end of the tunnel.”

While HRPP still had a strong support base which was making its feelings known via social media, a number of the party’s backers and public servants had begun to speak out against the “unacceptable” events taking place.

Lesa said he saw two possible outcomes: in one scenario, the Supreme Court would charge Malielegaoi and others with contempt of court and put the matter in the hands of police, and in the other there would be a fresh election with agreement from FAST.

“My personal belief is that even if they do have another election… if FAST had some support before, they now have a lot more support given what’s happened over the past few days.”

“What I think you’re seeing now is a number of institutions and positions within the Samoan political system working their way in terms of understanding the parameters of their power and authority.”

But Dr Iati Iati, a senior politics lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, told Newsroom he was optimistic the impasse was merely a bump in the road that could be resolved in a way which improved the country’s democratic system.

“What I think you’re seeing now is a number of institutions and positions within the Samoan political system working their way in terms of understanding the parameters of their power and authority…

“We need to step back and understand that even though Samoa has been an independent country for 60 years, its democratic processes still have a number of issues that need to be ironed out.”

The current dispute was the result of “a perfect storm”, Iati said, with an initial deadlock which left the balance of power in the hands of an independent MP, as well as a “vaguely drafted” constitutional provision around female representation which led to the HRPP gaining, then losing, an additional MP.

“If we had a clear cut majority at the election I don’t think we would have seen any of these events transpire.”

He believed the standoff could be resolved without a new election, and said despite some hyperbole from understandably frustrated party supporters, the country was some way from the coups which had taken place in Fiji and other Pacific nations.

Ardern: ‘Not in position to play interventionist role’

Speaking to media on Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Cabinet was watching the situation in Samoa closely.

“Our strong view is that we hold a huge amount of trust and faith in the institutions in Samoa – in the judiciary, in their democracy, and of course in the outcome that the election delivered – and our call would simply be for all of those things to be upheld.”

Ardern said reports suggested there was “relative calm” from Samoans despite the political unrest, with the country’s politicians and faith-based leaders having urged the public to maintain that attitude.

Asked by Newsroom whether the Government was considering any sanctions against Samoa over what some have already described as a coup, she said it was “not something that we’re in the space of discussing or considering” given the hope that democratic institutions could still prevail.

“At this stage the judiciary is still very strongly holding to their role, working very hard to uphold the outcome of the election, and so really for us, it’s a matter of encouraging that that work continues – we are simply not in a position to be playing any interventionist role in that regard.”

She hoped the Government here would not be in a situation where it faced rival Samoan prime ministers and governments with their own claims to power, but indicated it would side with Mata’afa and FAST if that was the case.

“As we’ve said, we’ve been calling on all sides to uphold the rule of law, and so when you have the judiciary, the Supreme Court, endorsing a particular outcome, then that would be where New Zealand would naturally flow in following through with our ongoing contact.”