Who is samoan president

The drama had all the trappings of a Hollywood blockbuster: razor-thin election results, long-time rulers clinging to power , highly politicized court rulings, politicians locked out of buildings , and the list goes on.

All of this is overlaid by the fact that Samoa was on the precipice of having its first-ever female leader. On Monday, hundreds of people paraded through the streets of the capital, Apia , in support of Tuilaepa and his Human Rights Protection Party. Related: Tibetans in exile elect a new president.

Samoa country profile. Image source, Getty Images. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa pictured centre, in white is sworn in at the makeshift ceremony. Samoa's chief justice Satiu Simativa Perese was also barred from parliament in the capital Apia.

The woman who unseated Samoa's prime minister of 20 years. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa had served as first deputy prime minister. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, the world's second-longest service prime minister, is refusing to step down. Related Topics. Women Samoa Democracy. Published 18 May.

She unseated the world's second-longest serving prime minister - Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi - who has been ruling the country since Observers have described the shakeup as Samoa's democracy coming of age. Democratic elections are nothing new in Samoa and yet they're rarely anything that would hit global headlines. There has basically only been one party that's ever been relevant - the Human Rights Protection Party HRPP , which has won elections there for the past four decades.

Almost equally constant has been the man at the helm: Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi - the second longest-serving prime minister in the world. Politically active since the mid s, the year old had already been the first female deputy prime minister in Polynesia and will be only the second woman in the region to head a government.

Kerryn Baker, Pacific affairs expert at the Australian National University, says that Fiame's appointment is "an important milestone for Samoa". Ms Mata'afa comes from royal lineage and is the daughter of the country's first prime minister. But there's much more to her political success than just inherited legacy.

In Samoa, custom and respect for her status would dictate that Ms Mata'afa be addressed by her chiefly title of Fiame. But she was also able to be warm and personable with them, and encouraged people to open up about their concerns or questions about those bills or social issues more broadly. Her election campaign brought a completely new dynamic to Samoan politics.