Re: Samoa Election process  

The system that operates in Samoa is not a traditional parliamentary system regardless of whether the government and PS Jeffrey say it is so. 

A parliamentary system is democratic. This is not the governmental system that is currently in place in Samoa. 

Parliamentary systems don’t have 5 members of one party running in the same district. Nor do they have districts that have only one candidate because those who created the current system have passed laws where they can eliminate of their opponents by making up some ridiculous charges and filing them a week before the election so that they are declared the winner as you have pointed out, without getting a single vote, as the deputy PM and the PM did in the last election. 

This is a dictatorship not a parliamentary system. You are also correct that visitors who know what a real parliamentary system look like know this as well. It seems only PS Jeffrey and Hollywood don’t know what a real parliamentary system actually looks like. 

I suppose you could call what Samoa has a “Samoan Parliamentary system” because they have a head of state that is a representative of the queen or at least some kind of royal person and a judiciary branch that is arguably controlled by the PM, which in itself is problematic, but after that it’s all just some made up type of system that does not resemble a true parliamentary system at all. 

I think PS Jeffrey needs to read and reflect on what a real parliamentary system looks like, not suggest that you need to do this Keith.

Wendy Wonder