Va'ai Papu Vailupe

Va'ai Papu Vailupe is a Samoan politician and Member of Parliament. He is the leader of the Tautua Samoa Party.[1]

Va'ai was first elected to the Samoan Legislative Assembly at the 1991 election.[2] After being re-elected in 1996, he served as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Works, EPC, and the Water Authority, before being appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Justice[2] Between 1998 and 2001, he served as Minister of Agriculture.[2] Since 2006 he has been a backbench MP.

In December 2008 he became a founding member of the Tautua Samoa Party.[3] As a result, in May 2009 he was one of nine Tautua MPs declared to have resigned their seats under an anti-party hopping law.[4] He was subsequently reinstated after the Supreme Court of Samoa overturned the law and declared the formation of new parties legal.[5]

In January 2010 new anti-party-hopping laws came into force, barring MPs from declaring their support for political parties or organizations with political aims other than the party they were elected for.[6] In March 2010, he joined Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi and Palusalue Fa’apo II in formally declaring his membership of the party and so was deemed to have resigned his seat.[7] However, the HRPP was unable to find a candidate for the resulting by-election, and on 2 May 2010 he was declared elected unopposed,[8] becoming the first non-HRPP MP to win a by-election.[9]

Vailupe won his seat in the 2011 election, but the result was overturned by an electoral petition, which found him guilty of bribery and treating.[10]

Vailupe is the son of former Prime Minister Va'ai Kolone and the brother of Samoan Democratic United Party leader Asiata Sale'imoa Va'ai.[11]

References
  1. "Tautua Samoa party to limit terms of prime minister in office". Radio New Zealand International. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  2. "Va'ai Papu Vailupe". Legislative Assembly of Samoa. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. Alan Ah Mu (17 December 2008). "Tautua Samoa officially launched". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  4. "By-elections to be called in Samoa for nine vacant parliamentary seats". Radio New Zealand International. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  5. "Samoa court reinstates nine MPs, cancels by-elections". Radio New Zealand International. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  6. "Samoa passes bill following last year's Tautua Samoa episode". Radio New Zealand International. 22 January 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  7. Alan Ah Mu (18 March 2010). "Va'ai springs election shock". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  8. "Samoa by-elections reduced to two contests". Radio New Zealand International. 2 May 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  9. Alan Ah Mu (2 May 2010). "Fear tactic failed: Va'ai". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  10. "Tautua Samoa party leader found guilty of bribery and treating". Radio New Zealand International. 1 May 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  11. "'I've lost a friend'". Samoa Observer. 3 September 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.


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