Samoan general election, 2016

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4 March 2016

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All 49 seats to the Fono (ended up as 50 due to a 10% female quota)

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi	Palusalue Fa’apo II
Party	HRPP	TSP
Last election	29	13
Seats won	35	2
Seat change	6	11
Popular vote	45,816	6,432
Percentage	57.3%	8.0%

General elections were held in Samoa on 4 March 2016. The main contesting parties were that of incumbent Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP); and the Tautua Samoa Party (TSP). The HRPP secured a landslide victory, winning 35 of the 49 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly, while 12 independents subsequently joined them, strengthening Samoa's one-party rule and preventing the TSP from obtaining the eight seats required for recognition as a parliamentary party.

The 49 members of the Fono were elected from constituencies, of which 35 were single-member constituencies and 7 were two-seat constituencies. All seats were elected using first-past-the-post voting; in the two-seat constituencies, voters cast two votes. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1990, permitting Samoan citizens over the age of 21 to vote in person. Candidates were required to be at least 21 years of age, heads of their families and resident of the country for at least three years prior the nomination date. Civil servants and people with mental illness were ineligible to stand as candidates. People convicted for bribery or an electoral offense, and people given a prison sentence of more than two years (including the death sentence), were also ineligible. Around 116,000 electors were registered for the election.

The Constitution Amendment Act 2013 ensures a minimum of 10 per cent of seats in parliament were reserved for women.

A total of 164 candidates (24 women) contested the elections: 83 from HRPP, 23 from TSP and 60 independents. Four candidates including the prime minister and caretaker Minister of Justice, Fiame Naomi Mataafa, were elected unopposed. Capital Radio Samoa predicted that the ruling party would win the elections.

Voting commenced at 8am (UTC+14:00) and closed at 15:00 on 4 March. A liquor ban was imposed with effect from the voting day and till 06:00 the next morning. No violence was reported during the voting.

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