Samoa's majority party eager for new government to be installed

The leader of Samoa's majority party says establishment of the new government should move swiftly, and she is calling on the Head of State to take the steps to make that happen, despite legal challenges.

Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, the leader of the FAST party, told RNZ her party won the majority of seats in the 9 April election and could form a government, which she believed should happen early next week, despite opposition from the caretaker government.

Her party is now waiting on the Head of State to decide his next step.

"The due process is to confirm our numbers with the Clerk of the house, and through him ask the Head of State to reconvene parliament, so we've done that," Fiame said.

"We've given him the documentation that's required, documenting our numbers and that we have the majority. We also went to personally deliver to the Head of State a copy of that letter. Parliament needs to be called at the latest next Monday."

Fiame said the party asked the Head of State to make the call this week for parliament to reconvene on Monday.

"He's indicated that he'd like to take some further advice," Fiame said.

"Hopefully he's able to [reconvene parliament quickly] - the law's very clear on his role, because it's essentially the convening of parliament that establishes government. It's the people's representatives coming together to make the decisions as to who is to form government."

The country went to the polls for a general election on 9 April, and FAST won 26 of 51 seats. But the Electoral Commission then established a new and appointed women's seat, which was given to the incumbent HRPP party, creating a dead-lock in power between the parties.

The Head of State then called for a second election to be held on 21 May, which would have voided the earlier election results. But on Monday, the Supreme Court over-ruled the decisions to create the women's seat and to hold a second election.

The court ruling leaves Fiame's FAST party with the majority.

However, HRPP leader and caretaker prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has signalled they intend to appeal the Supreme Court decisions. And HRPP now has 47 election petitions filed against FAST, which Tuilaepa claims must be processed through the courts before the process begins to install the new government.

But Fiame told RNZ that legally, the government should be installed now, despite the petitions.

"[So far] we've been denied the opportunity to convene as a parliament, we've had all these extraordinary efforts put in our way.

"We have tried to respond accordingly through legal means, and we're at a point we feel that we have a clear run, and hopefully the Head of State will be able to come back to us soon and indicate that he will convene parliament as we've asked."

Fiame said any advice sought by the Head of State about the matter should be fair and balanced.

"We did point out to him that he may be taking advice from the interim government and government officials, but he also needs to equally give consideration of the majority party that has been elected by the country.

"We've won our court cases, in terms of the two issues that he signed off on - the extra woman member, and voiding the 9 April general election and calling new elections.

"Those are out of the way. I don't think it should stop the process of parliament being called, because those issues have been dealt with."

Fiame said she was relieved at the Supreme Court's decisions on Monday.

"It was a very emotional day for all of us because there is no parliament, we have a caretaker government in place, the only body of the government that is intact is the judiciary and the court system.

"We're very much dependant that the courts will play its role, and follow the law. And we're all very thankful that the confidence and trust we put in the system has come out the way the decisions were being made."