Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Lei’ataua

Who is Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Lei’ataua?

Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Lei’ataua is a Samoan politician and Speaker of the Samoan Legislative Assembly. He represents the A'ana Alofi No. 2 constituency, and is a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.

Lei’ataua was first elected to Parliament in 1996 and served briefly as Minister of Posts Office and Telecommunications before losing his seat in September of that year. He was re-elected in the 2001 general election and was appointed Deputy Speaker. In 2006 he became Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

Lei’ataua's term as Speaker has been marked by battles to prevent the formation of parties to rival the HRRP. In 2009, following the formation of the Tautua Samoa Party, he invoked anti-party-hopping laws to evict all nine of its members from the House. The MP's were later reinstated by the Supreme Court of Samoa. In 2010 passed new laws forbidding MPs from joining or declaring their support for political parties or organizations with political aims other than the party they were elected for. In March 2010 Speaker Lei’ataua invoked these laws to deprive three MPs of their seats for supporting Tautua Samoa.