By Staff Writer
The Office of the Electoral Commission, OEC, is concerned at public interpretations of the Electoral Act that may mislead or confuse the right to qualify as a candidate for the upcoming General Elections.
The OEC did not name the person behind the interpretation except that the claim was that a potential candidate who had rendered a ‘monotaga’ from ‘1997 to 1999’ is eligible to stand for election.
“ While OEC respects [this] potential candidate’s freedom to express his views and his own interpretation of the Electoral Act, our Office is not bound by those views and that interpretation,” Electoral Commissioner Faimalomatua Mathew Lemisio clarified in a statement.
“The true intention and spirit of the Electoral Act are clear in the sense that any person who wishes to contest an election in Samoa, has to hold a registered matai under the Lands and Titles Act 1981 and through that matai title, had rendered a monotaga to his or her village for a period of three (3) consecutive years ending on the day that that person lodges his or her nomination papers with the Electoral Commissioner.
‘Monotaga’ is a contribution, usually in food and money, by a person of note who is obligated to make, to become officially recognised and accepted in the village traditional setting.
