Tuilaepa admits to flaws in 2019 Electoral Act

Staff Reporters/

Apia, SAMOA – 11 March 2024 – Former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi admitted in parliament that there were flaws in the Electoral Act passed and used for the 2021 general elections while he was in power.

But he told parliament that the amendments were made “not for HRPP to remain in power but in good faith.”

He then cited the Deputy Prime Minister who Tuilaepa said came through in the 2021 general election because of the changes in the Act on the electoral constituencies boundaries.

Deputy Prime Minister Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio was quick to rebut Tuilaepas claims saying he didn’t want to go into detail but the country knows that right up to September before the close of the electoral rolls in October, the amendments were still being made “due to the glitches in your law.”

One of the major changes in the 2019 Electoral Act put in by Tuilaepa’s government was closing special booths in Apia and requiring voters from Savaii and outlying villages to go to their villages to vote on polling day.

The change caused havoc at the Mulifanua wharf with more than 10,000 voters scrambling for space on the inter-island ferries to get to their villages in Savaii in order to vote.

Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.

During the parliamentary debate on the 2019 amendments to the Act, an HRPP dominated parliament failed to appreciate the reality of transporting 10,000 plus voters from Upolu to Savaii on polling day. The few Opposition MPs in parliament then, interpreted the move as a ploy to influence the voting results.

Now Leader of the Opposition, Tuilaepa was the final speaker during the debate of the 2024 Amendment Act before the second and final reading under urgency last Friday. The amendment now approves updating the existing electoral rolls using a new electronic system and also allows online registration of Samoa citizens as voters both locally and overseas.

Tuilaepa acknowledged the FAST government for making the changes to the 2019 Act saying if HRPP makes it back to government….(in the next 1000 years), they will do the same and make the changes given the glitches already proven.

One of the first changes the FAST government made was the reopening of special voting booths for the by elections held after the 2021 general elections.

Tuilaepa however insisted that the changes were made in good faith and in response to the ‘voices’ of the public and views expressed by MPs inside parliament on these issues.

He also pointed to the MPs for most of the problems that emerge during every general election that contributed to voters waiting for the MP or election candidates to take them to register as voters, and expecting something in return.