Samoan election recount shows two parties still tied
The official results of Samoa’s general election has the top main political parties still neck and neck.
The final round of counting ended yesterday and the Electoral Commissioner last night presented the results to the Head of State, who declared the results official.
The newly formed Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (Fast) political party and the well-established Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) are each on 25 seats.
It now looks likely the deciding vote will belong with independent Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio, who is believed to be in talks with his constituency to decide who he will back.
The margin in the Sakega electorate was reduced to six from 13 but Fast member Fepulea’i Fasavalu Faimata held the HRPP incumbent To’omata Aki Tuileama.
Once a clear winner emerges, Parliament will be called no later than April 26 for the swearing in.
Samoa is now waiting to find out whether its longest-serving Prime Minister will be returned or a new era of government will be brought in for the next five years.
HRPP leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi started in the public service after completing a masters in commerce degree, then entered politics in 1981, becoming Finance Minister in the 1990s and Prime Minister in 1998. He held both roles until 2001.
Fast party leader Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, formerly a member of HRPP, was Samoa’s first female Cabinet minister and from 2016 to 2020 served as its first female Deputy Prime Minister.
Fiame is the daughter of Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulinu’u II, Samoa’s first Prime Minister following independence. The Fast party was formed just eight months ago.
HRPP has been in power for nearly four decades. As well as electorate fatigue, several controversies and high-profile failures have damaged its image with the Samoan public.
The Government’s mishandling of the 2019 measles epidemic drew widespread criticism. Public anger grew considerably particularly after it was revealed that the government had not heeded the advice of its own public servants in 2018 and 2019 to launch a mass vaccination campaign.
In late 2019 the measles epidemic killed 83 people, many of whom were children and infants.
Continued Covid-19 restrictions and the accompanying economic downturn and unemployment from the collapse of the tourism industry have also fed the desire for change.
HRPP also felt the heat over changes in dealing with land disputes.
Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio, the independent candidate who could hold the balance of power, is a lawyer, businessman and president of the Samoan Returned Services Association. He has run in every Samoan election since 2006.
For the first time, voting began with pre-polling for people in special categories. Essential service workers, people with disabilities, and those aged over 65 could vote before the polls opened on April 9.
Samoa operates under a first-pastthe-post voting system, with the highest polling candidate elected, and the elected Government serves for five years. The voting age is 21.