5 Oct 2010

Lack of effective opposition fuels one-party state perception of Samoa

4:03 pm on 5 October 2010

A Samoan academic says Samoa is seen as a one-state party given the lack of an effective opposition party.

The director of the National University's Centre of Samoan Studies, Fonoti Dr Lafitai Iupati Fuatai, says poor campaigning has been the down-fall of previous opposition parties.

He says despite a lot of previous hype about a change of government in Samoa, the HRPP has kept coming back to power.

He says it's because no other party has proven itself to be a strong opposition.

"That's why perceptively you are seeing Samoa as a one-state-party country but in fact it's not. The government is giving a chance for the Tautua to prove themselves and they have to come up with that and it needs a lot of good thinkers and good leaders with experience."

However, he says there are indications that this year's Tautua Party will have the capability to properly contest the 2011 election, with many well reputed people expected to be announced as candidates in December.