FAST to retain power after Samoan election victory confirmed

While incumbent held on to power, the Polynesian island nation will have a new PM: Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt.

The incumbent Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party has been confirmed as the winner of the national election in Samoa.

Official results released by the Samoan electoral commission on Friday showed that FAST won 30 out of the 50 seats contested. However, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa departed the party earlier this year and will be succeeded by new FAST leader Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt.

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The main opposition Human Rights Protection Party won 14 seats. Independent candidates took another four.

The Samoa Uniting Party, formed earlier this year by Fiame – known as the “Iron Lady of the Pacific” – won only three seats, including her own. She was expelled from FAST in January amid a factional dispute.

Rising prices had been cited as a key issue for voters in the country of about 220,000 people.

Before the election on August 29, in Apia, the Samoan capital, residents had told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation they were looking forward to political stability and wanted the next government to focus on the economy and jobs.

On Friday, Samoa’s head of state, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, had issued a warrant confirming the names of the new lawmakers who will form Samoa’s next parliament.

Five women have won seats. The Samoa Observer reported that under a 10 percent minimum representation rule, at least six women must sit in parliament, necessitating the creation of an additional seat.

Fiame became Samoa’s first female leader in 2021, winning an election that unseated Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi after 22 years.

She raised the international profile of the nation by hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year, focused on the effect of climate change in the Pacific.

But after being unable to gain enough support to pass a budget, Fiame asked in June for parliament to be dissolved. She has been serving in the role of acting prime minister since.