Lord Fusitu'a vacates Niuas nobles seat [1]
Monday, August 10, 2020 - 18:18. Updated on Monday, August 10, 2020 - 18:20.
Lord Fusitu’a has lost his seat in parliament after a long absence from the Legislative Assembly since 5 August 2019.
He is no longer the Nobles' representative of Niuatoputapu and Niuafo’ou and his seat has been declared vacant.
The office of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga confirmed that under section 7 of the Legislative Assembly Act [2], if a member of parliament is absent from the Assembly for more than 12 consecutive calendar months, his tenure as a member shall end and the seat will become vacant.
The seat was declared vacant on 6 August and a Writ for election of a successor was issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Lord Fakafanua. The time and place for the by-election will be set by the Electoral Commission in consultation with the Speaker.
In a statement today the Legislative Assembly said that it “recognises with deep appreciation the valuable contribution by Lord Fusitu’a to the work of the assembly during his time as the Noble’s representative of Niuatoputapu and Niuafo’ou.”
Only nobles with estates in the two islands groups are eligible to vote in the by-election. The Electoral Commissioner, Pita Vuki confirmed today that the three Nobles for the Niuatoputapu and Niuafo'ou electoral district are Lord Fotofili, Lord Fusitu'a and Lord Tangipa.
Airlifted
Lord Fusitu'a, who had suffered from failing health, was evacuated to Auckland by a special flight on Sunday 4 August 2019, after collapsing in Tonga. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit at Middlemore Hospital, where he said he underwent five surgeries.
On his Facebook page Lord Fusitu'a on December 20 last year said: “after many months of surgery, medical treatment, more surgery and more treatment and then recovery... I finally bid farewell to Middlemore.”
He said he was eternally grateful to the Lord Speaker Lord Fakafanua and the Legislative Assembly “who were instrumental in the process to approve and fund airlifting and emergency medical treatment.”
Lord Fusitu'a remained in Auckland following his treatment.