Samoa elects new Head of State

Former Head of State Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi was elected for the role in 2007. Photo / Government House NZ

One of Samoa's most dedicated leaders has been replaced.

Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, who served as the Head of State for 10 years, is to stand down and will not serve a third term.

Local media are reporting the decision was confirmed in Parliament this morning.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi announced that member of the council of deputies, Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II, will now take on the esteemed role, the Samoa Observer reports.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister told the Herald an official statement would be released shortly.

Efi has had a long life in politics in Samoa, having first entered Parliament as an MP in 1966.

He spent some time in New Zealand as a student at St Patrick's College in Wellington and later studied at Victoria University.

He is also a descendant of one of the island nation's most respected leaders: Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, the leader of Samoa's independent Mau movement in the early 1900s, who was shot and killed by New Zealand authorities during a peaceful protest in Apia.