PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM TO OBSERVE SAMOA ELECTIONS

At the invitation of the Government of Samoa, a team of electoral observers representing the Pacific Islands Forum is in Apia, Samoa, to observe the 2016 Samoa Elections, which will be held March 4, 2016.

The Forum Observer Team comprises Calvin Ziru, Registrar of Electoral Parties in Solomon Islands and Bernard Grundler, Chief Secretary and Returning Officer of the Republic of Nauru, with support from Forum Secretariat staff.

The Pacific Islands Forum’s electoral observation work is guided by the 2000 Biketawa Declaration under which Forum Leaders’ committed to uphold the individual’s inalienable right to participate by means of free and democratic political process.

In welcoming the team, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peseta Noumea Simi noted the government’s openness to observers for the elections. She invited the team to move freely among the electoral booths, noting also the support of the Acting Electoral Commissioner, Faimalomatumua Mathew Lemisio and his office.

The Forum Electoral Observer Team will be deployed in Apia and rural Upolu and will observe all aspects of the elections – the opening of polls, casting of votes, closing of polling, and the count.

A Forum team of electoral observers comprising electoral supervisors from Tonga and the Cook Islands recently observed the Vanuatu snap election in January 2016.

CHAIRMAN PRAISES AUMUA’S FISHING BILL

Congresswoman Aumua Amata, received praise from Subcommittee Chairman John Fleming during a House Natural Resources — Water Power & Oceans Subcommittee legislative hearing on H.R. 4576, Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries Act.

Chairman Fleming went out of his way to mention the hard work being done by the Congresswoman stating, “I think this a great bill, and I appreciate what Ms. Radewagen is doing here. She is a freshman, but has already made a positive impact for not only her district, but the island communities, and we thank her for all she does.”

H.R. 4576 makes critical amendments to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act to minimize disadvantage and maximize opportunities for the territory’s fleets, especially to those targeting migratory tuna stocks in the Pacific, which are essential to the American Samoa economy. Title III of the bill aims to ensure access to traditional fishing grounds by requiring such grounds be considered in any formal stance taken by U.S. Commissioners at the WCPFC.

 “By working with local industry and fishery councils, we have come up with legislation that will help to ensure the continued supply of tuna to the island’s canneries,” Amata said. “The American Samoa economy depends heavily on this supply of fish, and it is time that the United States begins looking out for the interests of our fleet and fishing communities, and not capitulate to special interest organizations, and foreign nations,” she said.