Va'ai Papu Vailupe

Va'ai Papu Vailupe is a Samoan politician and Member of Parliament. He is the leader of the Tautua Samoa Party.[1]

Va'ai was first elected to the Samoan Legislative Assembly at the 1991 election.[2] After being re-elected in 1996, he served as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Works, EPC, and the Water Authority, before being appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Justice[2] Between 1998 and 2001, he served as Minister of Agriculture.[2] Since 2006 he has been a backbench MP.

In December 2008 he became a founding member of the Tautua Samoa Party.[3] As a result, in May 2009 he was one of nine Tautua MPs declared to have resigned their seats under an anti-party hopping law.[4] He was subsequently reinstated after the Supreme Court of Samoa overturned the law and declared the formation of new parties legal.[5]

In January 2010 new anti-party-hopping laws came into force, barring MPs from declaring their support for political parties or organizations with political aims other than the party they were elected for.[6] In March 2010, he joined Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi and Palusalue Fa’apo II in formally declaring his membership of the party and so was deemed to have resigned his seat.[7] However, the HRPP was unable to find a candidate for the resulting by-election, and on 2 May 2010 he was declared elected unopposed,[8] becoming the first non-HRPP MP to win a by-election.[9]

Vailupe won his seat in the 2011 election, but the result was overturned by an electoral petition, which found him guilty of bribery and treating.[10]

Vailupe is the son of former Prime Minister Va'ai Kolone and the brother of Samoan Democratic United Party leader Asiata Sale'imoa Va'ai.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Tautua Samoa party to limit terms of prime minister in office". Radio New Zealand International. 2011-02-06. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  2. 1 2 3 "Va'ai Papu Vailupe". Legislative Assembly of Samoa. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  3. ↑ Alan Ah Mu (2008-12-17). "Tautua Samoa officially launched". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  4. ↑ "By-elections to be called in Samoa for nine vacant parliamentary seats". Radio New Zealand International. 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  5. ↑ "Samoa court reinstates nine MPs, cancels by-elections". Radio New Zealand International. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  6. ↑ "Samoa passes bill following last year's Tautua Samoa episode". Radio New Zealand International. 2010-01-22. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  7. ↑ Alan Ah Mu (2010-03-18). "Va'ai springs election shock". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  8. ↑ "Samoa by-elections reduced to two contests". Radio New Zealand International. 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  9. ↑ Alan Ah Mu (2010-05-02). "Fear tactic failed: Va'ai". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  10. ↑ "Tautua Samoa party leader found guilty of bribery and treating". Radio New Zealand International. 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  11. ↑ "'I've lost a friend'". Samoa Observer. 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2010-09-04.

External links


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