Opposition leader blocked in bid as Samoa s first female premier Pacific islands struggle with female political participation Samoa s gender quota rules under fire after April s tight poll
By Michael Taylor
May 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An impasse between Samoa s incumbent prime minister and female opposition leader could see a backlash against gender quota rules in the small Pacific island nation and stop other women from entering politics across the region, analysts warned.
April s tightly-contested election gave the FAST opposition party led by Fiame Naomi Mata afa - who was bidding to become Samoa s first female premier - a one-seat parliamentary majority until poll authorities gave the ruling party an extra lawmaker to meet a 10% female representation rule.
Samoa s crisis seen harming gender equality in Pacific island politics
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Samoa s crisis seen harming gender equality in Pacific island politics
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Pacific island swears in its first female PM in a tent after she is locked out of Parliament
Samoa swore in its first female Prime Minister in a makeshift ceremony in a tent Monday after she was locked out of Parliament amid a power struggle with the country’s longstanding leader.
Fiame Naomi Mata’afa’s Faith in the One True God (FAST) Party said the dramatic turn of events amounted to a “bloodless coup” following weeks of uncertainty after the country’s deadlocked April 9 election.
Her narrow election victory was set to end almost 40 years of rule by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), which has governed almost uninterrupted since 1982, and more than two decades with Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi as Prime Minister.
May 24, 2021 / 04:46 PM EST
(CNN) Samoa swore in its first female Prime Minister in a makeshift ceremony in a tent Monday after she was locked out of Parliament amid a power struggle with the country’s longstanding leader.
Fiame Naomi Mata’afa’s Faith in the One True God (FAST) Party said the dramatic turn of events amounted to a “bloodless coup” following weeks of uncertainty after the country’s deadlocked April 9 election.
Her narrow election victory was set to end almost 40 years of rule by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), which has governed almost uninterrupted since 1982, and more than two decades with Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi as Prime Minister.