APIA (Pacnews) — A former Samoa Democratic United Party MP who lost his parliamentary seat in last year’s general election has won in the Vaimauga west constituency by-election held over the weekend.
Patu Ativalu has topped the polls with 697 votes and this time he’s joining the ruling Human Rights Protection Party.
Before the by-election, Patu announced that he would not stand for the SDUP again because many of his supporters had advised him to join the government as the SDUP was no longer recognized as an opposition and party in parliament.