Ardern personally denies election meddling

By Adel Fruean 28 August 2021, 8:10PM

New Zealand's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has addressed and rejected allegations from the former Prime Minister that she was involved in a plot to oust him from office as part of feminist coup.  

The leader of the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.), Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, alleged last Sunday that Ms. Ardern had been heavily “involved” with Samoa’s recent and long running power crisis. 

He also suggested that New Zealand Prime Minister had sought to push a feminist agenda, which he said was to install a "female Prime Minister for Samoa."

But Ms. Arden was asked about these claims by a constituent during a voter interaction session on her official Facebook page and denied them wholeheartedly. 

“You might have seen a couple of comments coming from the former Prime Minister about New Zealand’s involvement in the election; I have just reiterated that we of course had no involvement,” she said.

“It was all democracy and we only made comments after declarations were made by the courts in Samoa.

“So, we are really careful about those things because we need to respect other people’s democracies.”

Last Wednesday, the Samoa Observer sought comments from Ms. Ardern and in an emailed response from her office: a spokesperson "rejected the allegations" describing them as "unfounded.”

The allegations by Tuilaepa were made during a special programme with TV1 on Sunday night.

He said that he is starting to get suspicious that maybe New Zealand is behind all of this.

"The Government [of New Zealand] has been heavily involved,” he added.

"It got me thinking about a lot of the things that have happened recently.

"It looks like the N.Z. Prime Minister wanted Samoa to have a female Prime Minister. 

"Which has blinded her [Jacinda Ardern] from seeing if it's something that is in line with our constitution. 

"But like that English proverb says: The end justifies the means. 

"This means they don't care how they get what they hope for, just as long as they achieve their goals, it doesn't matter if it's by hook or by crook, they would still push their agenda. 

"It does not matter if they roll in the mud to get there; they will still push for it.”

Tuilaepa's outlandish claim made news around the world including the United Kingdom, Australia and, of course, New Zealand.

 



By Adel Fruean 28 August 2021, 8:10PM
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