Samoan Court of Appeal dismisses appointment of female MP
17 November 2022. The appointment of a female Samoan Member of Parliament has been quashed by the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal ruled the appointment of To'omata Norah Leota, made by the Supreme Court earlier this year, was invalid.
To'omata, a FAST party MP, was appointed as the sixth female member to meet the constitutional minimum criteria of 10 percent of MPs being women.
She was appointed, alongwith two Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) women MPs, Aliimalemanu Alofa Tu'uau and Fa'agaseali'i Sapo'a Feaga'i, following the decision by the Supreme Court.
This boosted the number of seats from 51 to 54 and the Appeal Court has ruled the decision was based on a misinterpretation of Article 44 in the Constitution Amemdment Act of 2013.
The Court says the intention of Article 44 is to provide for a minimum number of women MPs, and that is five.
Aliimalemanu and Fa'agasealii and the HRPP filed the initial appeal against To'omata Norah Leota seeking to disqualify her appointment.
In response, To'omata filed a cross appeal alleging the Supreme Court erred in adopting the formula that qualified the two Human Rights Protection Party women to be legislators.
She claimed the formula was unfair in relation to relevant factors including the size of the electorate votes and the number of competing candidates.
- RNZI
Aliimalemanu and others claimed that the ruling that appointed To'omata was neither applied for nor was it advanced by the respondents.
The Appeal Court also ruled to dismiss the cross appeal from To'omata.
