The legal machinations connected to Samoa's ongoing political stand-off will continue this week, but the Samoa Law Society says Fiame Naomi Mata'afa has the law on her side.
President of the Samoa Law Society, Komisi Koria, said the recent rulings handed down by the Supreme Court when it comes to the constitution showed this.
“As far as the law is concerned and the supreme law of the land in this country, she has the support of the law in terms of her claims to be Prime Minister,” Leiataualesa said.
The Human Rights Protection Party's appeal against a critical Supreme Court ruling, is due to be heard this week.
That ruling declared that the post-election appointment under the quota system of a sixth female MP, an HRPP candidate, was unlawful, a decision which left the FAST party with a one seat majority, and it was on that basis they claimed the right to form government.
An application to remove the Chief Justice from sitting on panel of the appeals court and replace him with an overseas judge was dismissed Monday.
“After today's hearing, there is another hearing for Friday and that is the legal challenge questioning the validity of the sitting of parliament that took place in May,” Leiataualesa said.
If the Appeals Court dismisses the sixth female MP?
“If the decision this week goes against HRPP, then that means FAST maintains majority of one and final decision will be with the validity of May swearing and that could be a non-thing,” Leiataualesa said.
There were 28 petitions filed with the Supreme Court and that would be another three to four months to finalise, he added.
“So it's still a way off,” Koria said of finalising the 2021 election, held on 09 April.
Last week, the Samoa Law Society wrote to its members, reminding them how to conduct themselves.
“There's been a stream of commentary from political players in the last couple of weeks, and some of those have been very critical of our judiciary,” Leiataualesa said.
“A lot of those comments have been amplified on social media both in Samoa and within our diaspora overseas, so it was pertinent for the Law Society to send out a reminder to our members to remember their duty to the court,” he said....
Photo file Samoa PM-elect Fiame Naomi Mata'afa