Uiagalelei upholds his ruling to disqualify Manu’a House candidate

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Chief Election Officer Uiagalelei Lealofi is maintaining his decision to disqualify and withdrew the name of candidate Ali’itama Sotoa from the local House of Representatives race for Representative District #1 – Manu’a.

“The decision to disqualify Mr. Aliitama Sotoa as candidate in District No. 1 is based on law,” wrote Uiagalelei in an Oct. 26 response letter to Louise K. Y. Ing, a Hawai’i based attorney and partner of the law-firm Dentons US LLP in Honolulu, who represents Sotoa and had sought to re-qualify the candidate for the Nov. 08 Midterm Election.

“By trusting Mr. Sotoa’s assurance to comply with residency requirements, he was given a chance and his name was printed on the ballot for 7 days beyond expiration date. The trust was misplaced,” Uiagalelei explained.

He declared that the “decision to disqualify” Sotoa as a candidate in the midterm election “will remain”.

The Election Office announced earlier this month that new ballots for District #1 – Manu’a, were printed, after Uiagalelei withdrew Sotoa’s name as candidate for the midterm election.

In a Sept. 27 letter to Sotoa, the Chief Election Officer wrote that: “After several efforts to secure and collect documents in order to meet your House of Representatives candidate requirement for the... Midterm Election, to no avail, I have made the decision to withdraw your name from the official ballot for Representative District #1- Manu’a, effective immediately, September 27, 2022.” (See Samoa News edition Oct. 05 for details.)

Uiagalelei’s Sept. 27 decision prompted Sotoa to seek legal representation through Ing, the Hawai’i based attorney — after two-plus weeks of “one-on-one meetings and coordinations” with the Chief Election officer, Election Office legal counsel Faoa Aitofele Sunia and deputy election commissioner Fiti Tavai, the Election Officer said to Sotoa in an email that was shared with the local news media over the weekend.

Read Monday's issue for Sotoa's counterclaims submitted by his attorneys in a “Demand Letter” to Uiagalelei, dated Oct. 26.