Ponemafua Tapeni | |
---|---|
Member of the American Samoa Senate from the Alataua [1] district | |
In office 3 January 2021 –3 January 2025 | |
Preceded by | Sauitufuga Pita Suiaunoa [2] |
Personal details | |
Political party | Nonpartisan |
Ponemafua Tapeni is an American Samoan politician and member of the American Samoa Senate. [3]
Tapeni was appointed to the Senate on December 3,2020,and assumed office on January 3,2021. [4]
Politics of American Samoa takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic dependency,whereby the governor is the head of government,and of a pluriform multi-party system. American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States,administered by the Office of Insular Affairs,U.S. Department of the Interior. Its constitution was ratified in 1966 and came into effect in 1967. Executive power is discharged by the governor and the lieutenant governor. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the legislature. The party system is based on the United States party system. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Pago Pago is the capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila,which is American Samoa's main island.
Gerald Michael Gabbard is an American politician,serving as the Hawaii State Senator for District 21 from the Democratic party,since 2006. Gabbard rose to prominence for efforts to prevent same-sex marriage in Hawai'i by passing a 1998 amendment to the Constitution of Hawaii to give the state legislature "the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples" under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Gabbard,who was born in American Samoa,is the first person of Samoan descent to serve in the Hawaii Senate.
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The American Samoa Senate is the upper house of the American Samoa Fono. The Senate,like the lower House of Representatives,is a nonpartisan body. It is composed of 18 senators,serving a four-year term.
General elections were held in American Samoa on November 4,2008,to elect a governor,members of the House of Representative,and a delegate to the United States House of Representatives,as well as a referendum on a legislative override of the governor's veto. The elections were held as part of the wider 2008 United States general election.
The government of American Samoa is defined under the Constitution of American Samoa.
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A constitutional referendum was held in American Samoa on 4 November 2014. The proposed amendment to the constitution would have allowed the Fono to override vetoes by the Governor.
General elections were held in American Samoa on 3 November 2020. Voters elected a governor and lieutenant governor,members of the House of Representatives and the American Samoan delegate to the United States Congress. Incumbent Governor of American Samoa Lolo Matalasi Moliga was not eligible for reelection due to term limits. In American Samoa,gubernatorial candidates run on a non-partisan basis and as a slate together with their lieutenant governor candidate.
Tuaolo Manaia Fruean is an American Samoan politician,judge,and civil servant. He has served in both the American Samoa House of Representatives and the American Samoa Senate,and as Commissioner of Public Safety in the Cabinet of Governor Togiola Tulafono. Since 2021 he has been President of the American Samoa Senate.
Luaitaua Gene Pan is a nonpartisan politician and member of the American Samoa House of Representatives for district 5. He was elected to the House on November 8,2022,and took office January 3,2023.
Suʻa Alexander Eli Jennings is an American Samoan politician who is the current delegate to the American Samoa House of Representatives from Swains Island.
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