The new Minister in charge of the Office of the Electoral Commissioner says he is already exploring possible electoral law reforms to prevent future elections ending in national power crises.  

Lefau Harry Schuster says the goal of any future amendments would be to ensure that future elections are efficient and fair. 

“There are electoral laws that seriously need to be looked at," he said.  

"And it is very important to have the right people doing the review. Laws should everyone a fair shot and it should be for everyone’s benefit and not one sided or discriminatory.”

The Minister said too many election laws appear to be arbitrary, something he says was particularly evident in pre-election challenges to candidates' eligibility. 

“One of those laws is the requirement by the Village Mayor [...] to verify one’s candidacy and that is too much power being held by one person,” said the Minister.

A former Judge, Lefau said that election petitions prior to the general election show the problems with objectively establishing that a prospective candidate have met monotaga (service) requirements. 

“We really need to look at that. When we have one person making the decision on whether a citizen can run or can’t run the election it makes things difficult," the Minister said. 

"As far as possible in any law in this case electoral law should promote the freedoms afforded to us under the constitution.”

Lefau said another issue he believes should be changed is granting Members of Parliament the freedom to move from one party to another.

“The [Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P..P.)] had their reasons, but the question in my mind is, how come other professions like Doctors have the freedom of Association and they can move from one party to another," he said.

"And yet politicians in Samoa cannot do that and that to me is literally belittling the freedom afforded to every citizen under the Constitution for freedom of association.”

He said after every general election, a commission reviews the process and makes recommendations for improvements. 

“And so my job is to ensure that commission members to review the reports are the right people to do the job,” he said.

Lefau’s portfolio also oversees the Ministry of Police and Prisons and the Fire and Emergency Services Authority.

“What a relief, after the delays and today we have finally made our way into our offices and it’s humbling," he said. 

"I feel privileged to be appointed and also as I said before it is my strong belief that in democracy there has to be contesting parties so there is a check on the power of Government.”

A founding member of the Samoa Tautua Party, Lefau opted for to run for the  the Faatuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party in support of his family members and party colleagues, M.P.s La’auli Leuatea Schmidt and Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster. 

He said their party ran a strong campaign and won the people’s votes and endorsements.

“We look forward to the challenges that we will encounter,” said Lefau.

“While we are now the Government, but I cannot take away that objectivity as an opposition and I think this will be a beacon of my term as Minister, as it will remind us why we opted to run for office in the first place. But at the same time, I have to set my mindset to being the dominant party and that is the current Government.”

The eldest son of Saunoamaalii and Theresa Schuster, Lefau have other chiefly titles held by Lefau include, Tauili’ili, Fao, Fonoma’aitu, Aulaumea and Faualo. 

He is married to Frances Soon-Schuster; they have four children. 

Lefau attended St Joseph’s College in Samoa and then to New Zealand to further his education where he attended St Paul’s College before going on to Victoria University to study law. 

In the 1980s Lefau worked in the Ministry of Education in Wellington, New Zealand and, after five years, he returned to Samoa and worked at the Attorney General’s office. 

In 1997 Lefau moved into private practice and three years later he was appointed to the bench as a Judge of the District Court. However, after 10 years he then resigned from the Judiciary and entered politics. 

In 2011 Lefau won the Vaimauga West Constituency but was unsuccessful in seeking reelection in 2016.