Female MP chosen as Samoa Deputy Prime Minister Featured
Fiame Naomi Mataafa, second from right, with fellow HRPP MPs (from left) Aliimalemanu Alofa Tu'uau, Gatoloaifa'ana Amataga Alesana Gidlow and Faimalotoa Kika Stowers. Photo: RNZI / Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia
6 March, 2016. Fiame Naomi Mataafa, the daughter of the first prime minister of Samoa, has been picked to be the country's new deputy prime minister.
It's the highest executive position that a woman has ever reached in the history of Samoa's government.
Her selection was made at a meeting of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) after voters went to the polls and gave the ruling party of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi its biggest landslide victory in a 30-year rule.
Provisional results show that HRPP won 44 of the 49 contested seats, while the opposition Tautua Samoa party won just three seats and independent candidates took two.
Fiame Naomi Mataafa was the minister of justice in the previous government, and has also previously been the minister of youth, women and rural affairs, and the minister of education.
She was educated in New Zealand and was aged 18 when her father, Mataafa Fiame Mulinuu II, passed away. Her late mother, Laulu Fetauimalemau Mataafa, was also a member of parliament.
She will replace Fonotoe Lauofo Pierre Meredith as deputy prime minister and, according to political observers, would be the most logical choice to succeed Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi as the head of HRPP and the next prime minister of Samoa should he give up the post.
She was one of four women elected to parliament in Friday's polls, all from the HRPP. This means that a recent amendment to the constitution reserving five seats for women will be enforced, which will create a 50th seat in parliament for a female MP.
RNZI
3 comments
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Ha ha ha, ko e 'Ivi ia koia Mark he'ikai pe lava ia ki Fale Alea 'e mate vaivai pe ia hono pohu e Tongasat, vakai pe 'oku talamai e Aisake Eke 'oku maau ka e fai pe mahalo kovi, pe ko e me'a ni ne 'ikai ke ne a'usia he'ene 'aukai ko e mahalo kovi ko e angahala ha ha ha!
Ka 'oku ou poupou atu au ka Vika, na'a kuo taimi ke saupulu hotau Fale. -
Ka 'oku mau manavasi'i Vika na'a hu atu a 'Ivi ia pea toe muimui atu ai a 'Atama-Fisi ia, pea iku ke toe 'aukai.
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'Akilisi, fokotu'u ai leva he hisitolia ha'o push e me'a 'aonga koeni ke 'ai ha sea pau e kakai fefine. Tuku atu e veve ia ke hiko atu 'e he kakai nemou hikinima'i e pa'anga ke nau vahe ai. Feinga'i ai leva ha sea pau ke meimei palanisi hotau Fale Alea he kou tui 'e tokoni pe he na'e pehe pe 'a e ngoue ko Palataisi. Na'e 'uluaki pilinisi tokotaha pe ai 'a 'Atama, 'Afio'i 'e he 'Eiki 'oku fiema'u ha taha ia ke tokoni kiai, pea si'i hu atu ai pe si'i 'Ivi, koia ai 'e 'iai pe si'omau 'aonga.