Afemata Palusalue Faapo II (born ~1956) is a

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

n politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. From 2011 to 2016 he was the leader of the opposition

Tautua Samoa Party ) , flag = , website tautuasamoaparty.com The Tautua Samoa Party ( sm, Vaega Faaupufai le Tautua Samoa) is a political party in Samoa. The party's policies include economic development, particularly in the agricultural sector, public service r ...

. Palusalue was first elected to Parliament in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. He served as Parliamentary Undersecretary to the Minister of Justice. After being re-elected in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, he was appointed to Cabinet, first as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, and then as Minister of Communication & Information Technology. After the 2006 election he became associate Minister of Finance. Palusalue left the governing

Human Rights Protection Party The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP, sm, Vaega Faaupufai e Puipuia Aia Tatau a Tagata) is a Samoan political party. It was founded in 1982 and dominated Samoan party politics for decades thereafter, leading every government until their defea ...

in March 2008 and joined the opposition as an independent MP. He later became a founding member of the

. As a result, in May 2009 he was one of nine Tautua MPs declared to have resigned their seats under an anti-party hopping law. He was subsequently reinstated after the

Supreme Court of Samoa The Supreme Court of Samoa () is the superior court dealing with the administration of justice in Samoa. It was established by Part VI of the Constitution of Samoa. It consists of the Chief Justice of Samoa and other judges as appointed by the He ...

overturned the law and declared the formation of new parties legal. In January 2010 new anti-party-hopping laws came into force, barring MPs from declaring their support for political parties or organizations with political aims other than the party they were elected for. As a result, along with

Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi (born April 1967) is a Samoan politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa. He is the founder of the Tautua Samoa Party. Lealailepule was first elected to Parliament at the 2006 Samoan general election, r ...

and Va'ai Papu Vailupe he was deemed to have resigned his seat. He was re-elected in the resulting by-election. In December 2010 he was elected deputy leader of Tautua. He was re-elected in the 2011 election and re-elected deputy leader. Following Va'ai Papu Vailupe's loss of his seat for bribery and treating he became party leader. He lost his seat in the 2016 election. In 2017 he was conferred with the chiefly title of Afemata. He contested the 2021 election as a candidate for the Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party but was unsuccessful. In February 2023, the FAST government appointed Palusalue to serve as Samoa's consul-general in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Palusalue Faapo Ii Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa Communication ministers of Samoa Transport ministers of Samoa Tautua Samoa Party politicians Human Rights Protection Party politicians Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi politicians