Leiʻataua was first elected to Parliament in 1996 and served briefly as Minister of Posts Office and Telecommunications before losing his seat in September of that year.
Leiʻataua's term as Speaker was marked by battles to prevent the formation of parties to rival the HRRP.
In 2009, following the formation of the Tautua Samoa Party, he invoked anti-party-hopping laws to evict all nine of its members from the House.
[4] In March 2010 Speaker Leiʻataua invoked these laws to deprive three MPs of their seats for supporting Tautua Samoa.
[7] He had initially planned to run in the April 2021 election, but withdrew his candidacy in October 2020.