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Samoan politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Afemata Palusalue Faʻapo II (born ~1956)[1] is a Samoan politician and former Cabinet Minister. From 2011 to 2016 he was the leader of the opposition Tautua Samoa Party.[2]
Palusalue Faʻapo II | |
---|---|
Leader of the Tautua Samoa Party | |
In office 19 May 2011 – 4 March 2016 | |
Deputy | A'eau Peniamina |
Preceded by | Va'ai Papu Vailupe |
Succeeded by | Office vacant |
Minister of Communication & Information Technology | |
In office 2003 – 24 April 2006 | |
Prime Minister | Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi |
Succeeded by | Mulitalo Siafausa Vui |
Minister of Transport | |
In office 20 March 2001 – 2003 | |
Member of the Samoan Parliament for Safata | |
In office 26 April 1996 – 4 March 2016 | |
Preceded by | Tuiloma Pule Lameko |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | ~1956 (age 67–68) |
Political party | FAST (2020–present) |
Other political affiliations |
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Palusalue was first elected to Parliament in 1996.[3] He served as Parliamentary Undersecretary to the Minister of Justice. After being re-elected in 2001, he was appointed to Cabinet, first as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation,[4] and then as Minister of Communication & Information Technology. After the 2006 election he became associate Minister of Finance.[3][5]
Palusalue left the governing Human Rights Protection Party in March 2008 and joined the opposition as an independent MP.[6] He later became a founding member of the Tautua Samoa Party.[7] 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.[8] He was subsequently reinstated after the Supreme Court of Samoa overturned the law and declared the formation of new parties legal.[9]
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.[10] As a result, along with Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi and Va'ai Papu Vailupe he was deemed to have resigned his seat.[11] He was re-elected in the resulting by-election.[12] In December 2010 he was elected deputy leader of Tautua.[13] He was re-elected in the 2011 election and re-elected deputy leader.[14] Following Va'ai Papu Vailupe's loss of his seat for bribery and treating he became party leader.[15] He lost his seat in the 2016 election.[16]
In 2017 he was conferred with the chiefly title of Afemata.[17]
He contested the 2021 election as a candidate for the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party[1] but was unsuccessful.[18]
In February 2023, the FAST government appointed Palusalue to serve as Samoa's consul-general in Auckland, New Zealand.[19]