Faleu candidacy endorsement disputed

By Talaia Mika 24 May 2020, 9:00AM

The recent announcement by the Mayor of Faleu-uta and Faleu-tai, Lesa Tominiko, that the villages have endorsed, Lei'ataualesa Jerry Brunt, as their candidate for the 2021 General Election has been disputed.

Contrary to the claim by Lesa, another village chief, Talo Tele’a, who claimed to be the spokesperson for the village, said a decision has not been finalised. 

“The village has never finalised a candidate to represent the village yet. We still have other members who also want to run for the election,” he told Samoa Observer on Saturday.

“We’re (village) in the state of being informed about who wants to run for the election and who does not want to run. Everything posted in the paper about the decisions of the village are all erroneous.” 

Talo said Lei'ataua attended the Village Council meeting on Saturday but was in the company of other aspiring candidates, who are also considering running for public office.

“Lei'ataua Jerry is just one of the many people who wanted to run for the election and he was just informing the village that he wanted to run and that’s it,” he said.

Talo reiterated that the Mayor’s full statement was inaccurate. 

“Everything discussed in the meeting shouldn’t have been exposed, especially to the media and we have no intentions of doing so when we finalise our candidate,” he added.

During an interview with the Village Mayor, he said the Village Council believed the lawyer was the best candidate for them.

Lei'ataualesa refused to comment when he was contacted by the Samoa Observer. 

By Talaia Mika 24 May 2020, 9:00AM
Samoa Observer

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