Why the need for the By-Elections in Samoa after the General Elections had been purportedly finalised?
The by-election by the 7 constituencies has been from the disputed returns which were tabled as petitions from the contesting candidates post April 9th Samoan General Election. The delay, which is understandble, was due to the urgency to pass the Samoan annual budget as soon as possible for the fiscal year. The by-elections will settle the need for a judicial arbitrary judgement, which may be considered as an undemocratic process of resolving a democratic election process. The petitions mentioned would be considered null and void, bearing in mind the partisan leanings of the petition signatories based on family connections, party affiliations and their Faiths which would influence the candidature's petition. Again, the petitions would be considered a form of quasi election but it may variably be embellished and outside the purview of the Electoral Commission, again, a Judge made decision will not be considered part of the democratic process in the slightest, which leads us back to square one....the democratic process must be done in the proper way without any form of corruption whatsoever.
To observe the integrity of the democratic process is the purview of the Electoral Commission. The onus of responsibility for Samoan Democracy to be viewed in the eyes of the world as being incorruptible, fair and just, is with the utmost professional conduct of the Office and staff of the Samoan Electoral Commission undertaking the task of counting the Ballot correctly, accurately and professionally prompt.
The April 9th 2021 General Election revealed a level of transparency of the Samoan Democratic process that was conducted in a tardy and unprofessional way to the chagrine of many Samoans observing from afar. The by-elections will, hopefully, restore the loss of the Samoan democractic process integrity and will legitmise the incumbent Government, again, if the 7 seats were to swing to the HRPP we may see a particular crisis which may result in the Head of State dissolving the 17th Parliament and to call yet another Samoan General Election in order to form the 18th Samoan Parliament. How did the Samoan democratic process come to this debacle? It is simple, it was the lack of professionalism by the Electoral Commission of the previous Government in preparing for the Samoan General Election in the first place.
First and foremost, was the lack of preparation for setting up a Gender based constituency level whereby a equal proportion of HRPP women candidates would be vying for the 10% quota as an equal proportion of FAST Women candidates for each contestable constituencies ensuring that a minimum Gender distribution would ensure that regardless of which party won the seat, a woman would win the Electorate Seat, thus, ensuring that the 10% quota is met. When this gender based constituency level proportionality were met within the respective caucas of each Party only then will the 10% quota be met as according to the legislative requirements and abiding with the Samoan Constitution. If these fundamental steps were made, the debacle of the Samoan election would have been avoided.
Secondly, the accuracy of the vote count. It appears that there were some double counting of votes whereby there were more votes cast than there were of registered voters in certain ballot booths. Again, like the 10% quota for women voters, the onus of responsibility rests almost entirely upon the Electoral Commission and again the Electoral Commissioner ought to be vicariously responsible for the preparation of the Samoan General Election, and the HRPP Government's appointment of the Electoral Commissioner ought to have vetted and selected more astutely to begin with.
Finally, the disputed returns is indicative of the level of duplicitous actions by the Electoral Commission Officers who were responsible for counting the Ballot and for securing the ballot. It has raised the question as to whether the Electoral Officers were prepared or were simply unprofessional in their role as Electoral Officers in securing the Ballot and in counting the vote. Again, the onus of responsibility, albeit, vicariously so, rests with the Electoral Commissioner himself and the previous incumbent Government.
At the most humiliating tipping point for the Samoan Nation was the nominal role of the Samoan Head of State which was viewed by the entire world. The Head of State of Samoa was humiliated by the Parliamentarians. This would be considered a blight and stigma not only for the FAST Govenrment but to the Nation of Samoa as viewed by the world leaders. It was something unprecedented and would almost be tantamount to a Parliamentarian Coup d' Etat against the wishes of the Samoan Head of State and the Samoan Council of Deputies. This precedent will forever be etched in Samoan Political History.
13th October, 2021
Source:
Editorial, Samoa Observer, https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/editorial/92999?utm_content=buffered247&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR1HmFq07HmCkGgbGSbi-j9YB0AT1AnvaS-65kL3vdcVVG1k5_Upg7Mzduo, 13th October, 2021.
#hypoerhystericalhistory, #AUKUS, #RAN, #AustralianNuclearSubmarines, #ADF, #AustralianMilitary, #AustralianNationalSecurity, #NationalSecurity, #military