Members of the Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party are reaching out to the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) in hopes of garnering their support for a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa. 

Ale Vena Ale, Member of Parliament for Faleata No.4, confirmed on Friday that he has approached certain members of the opposition party regarding the matter.

He explained that when the HRPP initially put forward a motion to oust the Prime Minister, they did discuss with FAST in their efforts. 

"When the HRPP prepared to have their motion tabled in parliament, they did not reach out to us to support their motion," Ale said. "But now, as we prepare to present our motion in parliament, we are reaching out to them so we can discuss and reach an agreement."

Ale stressed that FAST is open to dialogue with the opposition. 

"We are willing to have discussions with them. They started this by bringing the motion to parliament, and we believe, as our leader had pleaded with them in parliament, it was not the right time. 

"Now is the time for that to happen," he explained. Ale further emphasised that the leadership of Prime Minister Fiame was problematic, asserting that her government is operating as a minority administration, describing it as "unlawful". 

"I think we can all agree that the Prime Minister's leadership is unlawful given that she's operating with a minority government," he said. "We are ready to put forth a motion for another vote of no confidence, and we hope to have discussions with them. Let's see what the outcomes are for those discussions over this weekend."

However, the chairman of the FAST party, La’auli Leuatea Schmidt, believes that there should be no need to convince the opposition party to support their motion. 

La’auli stated that FAST has already submitted a request for a vote of no confidence to be tabled in parliament next week. 

"Just to be clear, we declared in parliament this week that we wanted to have a vote of no confidence," La’auli said. "We appealed to the HRPP to postpone their motion because we have our reasons. We needed to fix things first and prioritise what's good for the country. And because of those reasons, we voted against their motion."

La’auli admitted that part of the reason FAST opposed the HRPP's motion was to ensure that key constitutional amendments, requiring a two-thirds majority, and changes to the Electoral Act were passed first. 

"That's the main reason why we voted against the vote. But it's going to happen. We will put forth a motion to have another vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister," he declared.

With FAST now pressing forward with their motion, the coming week in parliament is set to be a critical moment in Samoa’s political landscape. 

The discussions between FAST and the opposition parties over the weekend will likely shape the dynamics of the vote of no confidence against Fiame.