Afualo Wood Salele

Afualo Wood Salele
Afualo Wood Salele in 2013
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Salega West
In office
4 March 2011 – 4 March 2016
Preceded byNone (Constituency created)
Succeeded byTo'omata Aki Tuipea
Personal details
Born (1957-08-06) 6 August 1957 (age 67)
Political partyTautua Samoa Party
SpouseTuaopepe Rose Marie Keil Salele[1]
Alma materUniversity of Guelph
University of New England, Armidale
University of the South Pacific[1]

Afualo Wood Uti Salele (born 6 August 1957)[2][1] is a Samoan politician, matai and academic. He is the leader of the Tautua Samoa Party.

Salele is an economist and worked as a lecturer at the National University of Samoa.[3] He served as Tautua's vice-president, but was appointed president in 2010 after the departure of Papalii Tavita Moala.[4] In February 2011 he was replaced as party president by Va'aelua Eti Alesana.[5]

Salele was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Samoa at the 2011 election.[6] During the 2011–2016 term he served as Tautua's finance spokesperson, during which he called for the creation of an independent anti-corruption body.[7] He lost his seat at the 2016 election.[2][8] Following his election loss he returned to the National University of Samoa.[9]

In the leadup to the 2021 election he negotiated an electoral alliance with the Samoa First Party and Sovereign Independent Samoa Party, under which the parties will support each other's candidates in seats where they are not running against one another.[10] He contested the Salega No. 1 electorate, but was unsuccessful.[11] A subsequent electoral petition saw Afualo found guilty of three counts of bribery.[12]

  1. ^ a b c "Your Team — THE TAUTUA SAMOA PARTY". Archived from the original on 14 April 2021 – via tautuasamoaparty.com.
  2. ^ a b Sarafina Sanerivi (11 March 2016). ""Life goes on" - Afualo". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Samoa's national university business faculty wins global award". Scoop. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Tautua Samoa party president quits". RNZ. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Son of former Samoa leader now leading opposition party". RNZ. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ^ "New MPs in Samoa to bring fresh ideas to parliament". RNZ. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Samoa shadow finance minister calls for independent corruption body". RNZ. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Opposition Leader Palusalue Faapo Loses Seat". Talanei. 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Former Tautua Samoa Party members score points". Talanei. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  10. ^ Soli Wilson (11 December 2020). "Tautua, Samoa First and S.I.S. announce election alliance". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  11. ^ Sapeer Mayron (2 May 2021). "Tautua taking on F.A.S.T. in court". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  12. ^ Lanuola Tusani Tupufia - Ah Tong (25 June 2021). "Afualo guilty of bribery". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 25 June 2021.