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Lautimuia Uelese Vaʻai
Samoan politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lautimuia Afoa Uelese Vaʻai (born 1968 or 1969) is a Samoan politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa. He is a member of the Samoa Uniting Party (SUP). He is a nephew of former Prime Minister Vaʻai Kolone.[2]
Vaʻai is from the villages of Magiagi and Vaisala and trained as an accountant at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.[3] He worked as a lecturer at the National University of Samoa and as a senior civil servant before being appointed chief executive of the Samoa Shipping Corporation in November 2017.[3][4]
He contested the 2016 Samoan general election in the Vaimauga West 1 Constituency as a candidate for the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP).[5]
In February 2023 he was selected as the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party candidate for the 2023 Vaimauga 3 by-election.[1][2][6] He won the by-election, defeating his HRPP rival by 400 votes in the preliminary count.[7][8] He was sworn in as an MP on 7 March 2023.[9]
In a cabinet reshuffle on 6 September 2023 he was appointed Minister of Finance, replacing Mulipola Anarosa Ale Molioʻo from 1 October 2023.[10][11]
Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata‘afa called a snap election following the government's budget defeat in parliament on 27 May 2025.[12] Following the dissolution of parliament,[13] Vaʻai, Mata‘afa and the rest of cabinet confirmed their resignations from FAST and established the SUP.[14] During the 2025 snap election, Vaʻai lost his seat to Taioaliʻiseu Fiti Aimaʻasu of the HRPP.[15] Vaʻai's tenure as finance minister concluded on 16 September, and he was succeeded by Molioʻo.[16]
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References
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