19-05-2025
Samoa PM under pressure to call election
After surviving two recent attempts to remove her from office, Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa is facing mounting pressure to call an early election.
In an unusual twist, those calls are coming from two men who rarely agree on anything. Opposition Leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, and La'auli Leuatea Schmidt; the chairman of Fiame's FAST party and former Cabinet Minister.
The next election is due around April next year but calls for an early poll follows months of political turmoil beginning in January when the PM sacked La'auli. He retaliated by removing her from the FAST party and failed to remove Prime Minister Fiame via a vote of no confidence.
"The longer the current Fiame Government continues to be in power, they have the luxury of time to build alliances," said political expert, Sala Dr George Carter.
