Fiame Naomi Mata’afa: The lady who received Samoa’s election however nonetheless cannot run her nation

When Fiame Naomi Mata’afa turned up to the Pacific island nation’s Parliament on Monday to be sworn in, she found the building locked. The 64-year-old went ahead with the oath-taking ceremony anyway — inside a tent on Parliament grounds.

“(Though) it was disappointing, we weren’t surprised,” she said from her office in the capital Apia. “But we were very resolved that a convening and swearing-in ceremony needed to take place.” Monday was the final day a new parliament could be sworn in following the April 9 election under Samoa’s constitution.

Longtime politician Mata’afa — who hails from a storied political dynasty — argues her party won the election. But her opponent, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoa’s Prime Minister of more than 22 years, sees it differently — and is refusing to relinquish power.

The pair offer different futures for Samoa. Malielegaoi — who once suggested Mata’afa was “the Devil” — has been criticized for his party’s close relationship to China and for…

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