20 Mar 2006

Samoa prime minister guaranteed seat in new parliament

10:46 am on 20 March 2006

Samoa Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, will remain in parliament after next week's election.

When nominations for the March 31st general elections closed at noon on Friday, Tuilaepa was the only candidate nominated for the constituency of Lepa.

A total of 210 candidates are vying for the 49 seats in Parliament, 47 seats are allocated for constituencies wherein only matai or chiefs are candidates while 2 are reserved for individual voters.

18 women are on the list of candidates including Minister of Education Fiame Naomi Mataafa and the two other women parliamentarians