Interisland rush worries F.A.S.T. chair

By Sapeer Mayron 13 April 2021, 11:00PM

Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi chairman Laauli Leautea Schmidt wants more options for inter-island voting in the next election, saying it is not fair to force constituents to travel in order to vote in their home village.

Having seen the large crowds attempting to cross the straight on Friday, the unofficial Member for Gagaifomauga No. 3 said he thinks the dangerous rush could have been avoided with better election policies.

“The hardest part for me to accept is for us Savaii people that live here (in Upolu), we get on the bus, get on the boat, get to the bus again,” he said.

But the Electoral Commissioner has responded to these concerns before, and recent changes to the Electoral Act 2019 were meant to fix this, by encouraging voters to register to vote from the village they live in usually, and vote for the person vying for candidacy there.

The Electoral Commissioner Faimalomatumua Mathew Lemisio has also said voters should be wanting to affect the constituency they spend the most time in, not the one they traditionally call home.

Many Samoans, especially Savaiians who only stay in Upolu for the job opportunities, would rather have their say in the constituency they call home, however.

Last week the Samoa Shipping Corporation said it was disappointed in people not planning ahead for the election and causing an inter-island rush on both the ferries and air service run by Samoa Airways.

Chief Executive Officer, Leiataua Samuel Phineas told the Samoa Observer that while they coped, he would have preferred people make their travel plans earlier to help avoid the crush.

He said on Thursday, more than 3000 passengers left Upolu between 6am and 1pm, and the ferries kept moving until late that night.

Leiataua urged people not to leave their plans to the last minute.

But Laauli insists Savaiians in Upolu should have the ability to cast their vote from the smaller island, and that this would avoid the mad dash to the ferry on the eve of the elections.

“The congestion, the overcrowding, the risks, the accidents, that is the biggest difference I saw,” he said.

“Before, we just had special booths here. Right now, it’s so unfair.”

Laauli said changes to the Electoral Act 2019 are among the reasons he was happy to leave his former party, the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) in 2020.

“This is the law that I walked out of the party over. This is the main reason why I walked out because I feel it’s no longer the same anymore.

“Taking away Savaii’s seat and adding an Upolu seat, the substitution and subdividing of other constituencies that go against our traditional boundaries, and our traditional faalupega, it’s not right. For me, it’s not right.”

In May, Parliament amended the Electoral Act 2019 to allow voters to register from where they permanently live, rather than where they were born or have extended family, such as where they are a suli to their land.

But the change did not mean a free for all for voters to swap constituencies every time they move house. A voter can register in a new constituency ten years after each change.

The law received immense criticism when it was passed. At the time, Leader of the Tautua Samoa Party, Afualo Dr. Wood Salele said the changes are not appropriate for Samoa’s traditional village affiliations.

“A lot of us live in town for convenience of work and school for children but we all go back to the village where we belong,” he said.

“The law should be flexible so that it does not try to remove that connection we rightfully have to our village of origin and where we come from. This is clear breach of your rights to your heritage and it is disheartening.”

He also added that the new laws will affect the number of voters in a given constituency and force the Government to look at the boundaries in order to allocate seats fairly across the country.

With more voters residing in the town area for work, the seats across Faleata and Vaimauga in Upolu and Faasaleleaga in Savaii will grow as others further away from town will shrink.

These changes have already started happening, with changes to the boundaries taking effect for this year’s election due to population changes.

“The new division of boundaries […] dictates the number of seats for the electorates and it does not honour our cultural heritage and the fa’amatai that we boast about,” Afualo said.

“I have no doubt that the urban seats number will increase again in the future if we follow this residency model.”

By Sapeer Mayron 13 April 2021, 11:00PM
Samoa Observer

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