Samoa's first female PM locked out of parliament by losing opponent
Samoa's first female prime minister has been sworn into office in a tent after she was locked out of parliament by her opponent, who has refused to step down.
Fiame Naomi Mata'afa took the oath of office in a marquee in the parliament's gardens, leaving uncertainty over who controls the Pacific island nation.
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Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who has been prime minister for 22 years, has ignored a court order to step down.
Ms Mata'afa, 64, arrived at parliament on Monday expecting to be sworn in.
But the former deputy prime minister, who arrived alongside the country's chief justice, found herself barred from the building, which had been locked by allies of Mr Malielegaoi in advance of her arrival.
Instead, Ms Mata'afa and members of her Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party instead gathered in a marquee on parliament's gardens, in the capital Apia, with supporters looking on, and were sworn in one by one.
In a statement, the FAST party said: "Democracy must prevail, always. There can be no exceptions from this fundamental principle. Those who claim otherwise and act accordingly play with fire."
The ad-hoc ceremony was rejected by rivals as unofficial. Mr Malielegaoi called the improvised swearing in ceremony "illegal and unlawful".
The controversy comes a month after the closest run general election in Samoa's history - an election followed by bitter disputes and legal challenges.
Mr Malielegaoi's Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) was ousted from power after four decades by Ms Mata'afa's insurgent FAST party. Both parties won 25 seats, but a single independent MP broke the tie in favour of the FAST.
That led to legal manoeuvring by the HRPP, which claimed its opponents had not correctly met the quota of female MPs. Samoa's election commission revoked the results of the April vote and called a fresh election for 21 May.
But five days ahead of the re-run, the country's supreme court ruled against the UHPP, re-endorsing the results of the election and ordering the swearing in of Ms Mata'afa to go ahead.