Shortlived victory
p. 37 · Read in the full issue
after election
THE man who defeated Western Samoa’s former Opposition Leader Tuiatua Tufua Tamasese in the April 5 general election has himself lost his seat after a court case.
The Supreme Court ruled on June 12 that the election of Mananuo Salale was void, following hearings into a petition filed by two voters who alleged caffes of bribery and treating in the Anoamaa Sasae electorate.
Moananu, a retired postal supervisor, had been an MP for less than five weeks (the MPs were sworn in on May 7).
Chief Justice Anthony Ryan upheld the first part of the petition calling for Moananu’s election to be void. But the CJ rejected a separate section which had asked the former Opposition Leader to be immediately declared the rightful holder of the seat.
Instead, the Supreme Court ordered a
by-election.
The case was the second election petition to be heard by the court, but the first to involve a reversal of the April general election result.
An earlier petition hearing, filed by the former Speaker of the house who also lost his seat to a newcomer, was dismissed for lack of evidence. □