ũgĩThe case is still pending in court while

ũgĩ’s Prime Minister said she would seek to dissolve Parliament, prompting an early election, after a vote on her government’s budget for the next year failed Tuesday.ũgĩFiamē Naomi Mata’afa’s admission of defeat followed months of political havoc in the South Pacific island nation, during which the leader survived two votes of no confidence and struggled on with a minority government. Her budget was rejected during a swift vote in the capital Apia, with 34 lawmakers against it, 16 in favor and two abstaining.

ũgĩAn election must be held within 90 days. Samoa, a country of about 200,000 people, was due to go to the polls next April.ũgĩ, when she ousted her predecessor of 22 years. She is the country’s first woman prime minister and in 1991 was the first woman appointed to Samoa’s Cabinet.ũgĩThe daughter of a former prime minister, Fiamē is one of the region’s longest-serving politicians. She came to power after splitting with the previous leader’s party over constitutional changes that she said would undermine the rule of law.

ũgĩFiamē holds a chiefly rank as a village leader, rare for women in Samoa. She remains an outlier, too, in Pacific island politics, where only 8% of parliamentarians are women, according to January figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.ũgĩTuesday’s budget defeat capped months of political turmoil after Fiamē in January sacked a Cabinet member who faced a raft of criminal charges and is also her party’s chairman. He in turn expelled Fiamē from the FAST party and forced her into a minority government.

ũgĩShe beat two no-confidence motions since. Debate over the efforts to unseat her provoked outrage among some in Samoa when Fiamē’s opponents derided her for being unmarried and suggested she needed a husband’s advice.

ũgĩEarlier this month Fiamē told reporters she would contest the election next April. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.ũgĩ“I worked really hard and wanted that satisfaction to see it through,” she said.

ũgĩOn Feb. 19, during the week finalists would have been named, the Trump administration announced an executive order cutting the program.ũgĩKauffman, 45, said she was crushed by the decision and worries that the mass layoffs and dissolution of the fellows program will forever change public service.

ũgĩ“It’s so easy to decimate something but so much harder to rebuild,” she said. “And I worry that the incredibly talented people who may have been my cohort or colleagues are going to go elsewhere, and there will be an incredible brain drain. It’s such a loss for the American people.”ũgĩSydney Smith, 28, said many of the fellows were shocked at being let go because they came in to the government with ideas on how to make it more efficient.