Fiame Naomi Mataafa: Samoa set to appoint first female PM

Samoa’s supreme court overrules attempt by head of state to void April election results, paving way for the opposition to form a government.

Fiame Naomi Mataafa is poised to become Samoa’s first female prime minister, after the Pacific nation’s top court helped break a month-long political impasse that followed a tightly contested April election. Samoa’s Supreme Court on Monday afternoon overruled an attempt by the head of state Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II to void the election results, local media reported. The top court also separately rejected the post-election creation of an additional parliamentary seat by the electoral commission that briefly gave the incumbent government a majority.