|
Laʻauli Leuatea Polataivao
Susuga Laʻaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt[2][3] is a Samoan politician, businessman, and former Cabinet Minister, speaker and deputy speaker of the Samoan Parliament.[4] He is the Member of Parliament for the Gagaʻifomauga No. 3 constituency and is the founder and chairman of the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party.[5][6] Early life and political careerSchmidt is the son of former Government Minister and founding member of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) Polataivao Fosi Schmidt.[7] He was first elected to the Fono as a candidate for the HRPP in the March 2006 elections. From 2006 to 2011 he served as Deputy Speaker. He was re-elected at the 2011 election and served as Speaker from 2011 to 2016.[8] He was again re-elected at the 2016 election and appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Scientific Research.[9] He subsequently served as acting Prime Minister. In August 2017, Schmidt resigned as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and remained Member of Parliament as he had a lengthy legal battle with HRPP MP Peseta Vaifou Tevaga.[10] He was subsequently charged with more than a hundred counts of forgery and theft.[11] He was acquitted of all charges in June 2020.[12] Departure from HRPP and by-electionIn May 2020 he was sacked from the HRPP by Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi after voting against proposed constitutional amendments.[13] He subsequently announced he had resigned from the HRPP and that he would be forming a new political party to contest the 2021 election.[14][15] On 30 June 2020, the Parliamentary Privileges and Ethics Committee found that Schmidt had misled Parliament over the disputed price of a generator during a debate and recommended that he be suspended from Parliament for three months without pay.[16][17] Schmidt apologised to the House and verbally resigned his seat.[18] After some initial doubt, the verbal resignation was deemed to be effective, and a by-election was called. On 30 July Schmidt registered the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) Party to contest in the 2021 Elections.[19] He ran as a candidate for the party in the 2020 Gagaifomauga No. 3 byelection[20] and was successfully re-elected.[21][22][23] GovernmentSchmidt was re-elected in the 2021 Samoan general election. On 24 May 2021 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in the elected cabinet of Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa.[24] The appointment was disputed by the caretaker government. On 23 July 2021 the Court of Appeal ruled that the swearing-in ceremony was constitutional and binding, and that FAST had been the government since 24 May.[25][26][27] In January 2025 he was charged with 10 criminal offences, including harassment, making a false statement causing harm to a person's reputation, using insulting words to provoke a breach of the peace, conspiring to fabricate evidence and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.[28][29] After refusing to resign[30] he was sacked as a minister on 10 January.[31][32] On 15 January La’auli, acting as FAST chairman, expelled Mataʻafa, deputy prime minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio, and three other cabinet ministers from the party.[33] La’auli was subsequently elected FAST leader, with Leota Laki Lamositele as his deputy.[34] NotesReferences
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
