The Samoa Supreme Court has refused to allow an HRPP election winner, Tuisa Tasi Patea, in Sagaga 4 electoral constituency and the challenger, FAST's Tagaloatele Poloa, to withdraw their petitions.
The Samoa Observer reports the two parties had already advertised their intentions to withdraw the election petitions with Tuisa agreeing to resign from office to trigger a by-election.
But when the matter was called on Monday to formalise the withdrawal of the petitions, the court denied the application and set a hearing date for the case.
Samoa's Supreme Court Photo: RNZ Pacific / Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia
It will now be heard on July 27th.
Tuisa, who is a lawyer by profession, is accused of six counts of bribery and two counts of influencing voters during polling day.
In a counter petition, Tuisa claimed that the election runner-up, Tagaloatele, committed eight counts of bribery and treating.
HRPP has already lost six of its MPs in the electoral petition process.
This means it has 19 seats while the FAST party has 26.
Pacific Forum ready to help if asked
The secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, said it sounds simple to make assessments from outside Samoa about the political turmoil there.
But he said he is pleased to see the people have maintained peace and the rule of law is still being adhered to.
Mr Puna, who has been in New Zealand for the past week, was referring to the progress through the electoral petitions, from which, so far, eight by-elections are now to be called.
Henry Puna Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
He said it makes good sense to allow all the outstanding legal issues to be dealt with and out of the way.
"It sounds simple when we are looking at it from the outside but you know I think the good thing is the Samoan people have maintained peace throughout this difficult time and I think we should be encouraging this situation to continue until the process is completed and we have a government in place," he said.
Mr Puna said Samoa has for a long time been a shining example of self-determination and democracy within the Forum family.
He said the Forum secretariat stands ready to help Samoa out of its current crisis if it's requested.
