No elections in Samoa stand-off, court rules

Last Updated: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:58:00 +1000

Samoa's Supreme Court has ruled that proposed by-elections for the seats of nine independent MPs cannot go ahead.

The parliamentary speaker had taken the action of declaring their seats vacant after claiming the group had breached the country's strict anti party-hopping laws.

The nine were barred from parliament late last month when they attempted to take their seats for the budget debate.

They subsequently went to the Supreme Court to have the action reversed.

They now plan to register as a party to contest the next election, scheduled for March 2011.

Future of speaker questioned

Meanwhile, the Chair of Samoa's opposition Tautua Party, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi has questioned the future of the parliamentary speaker and role of the Prime Minister.

Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi told Pacific Beat's Michael Cavanagh, that the speaker must seriously consider his future.

"I think it is the appropriate thing to do, to maintain the integrity of the parliament. To be honest our party has no faith in [the speaker] any more and he should do the right thing and step down," he said.