Samoa's election will take place on August 29, when the south Pacific nation will head to the polls in an intriguing contest.
The election is taking place a year earlier than expected, following the collapse of Fiame Naomi Mata'afa's government.
When elected in 2021, Fiame ended four decades of rule by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), and the 23-year prime ministership of Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi.
She also became Samoa's first woman prime minister. She is currently just one of two female heads of government in the Pacific.
However, the 68-year-old struck trouble earlier this year when she sacked her FAST party chairman from cabinet for a slew of criminal cases.
That act split her party in two, with Fiame remaining in government with loyalists to her leadership, while others left the government under the FAST banner.
She survived two no-confidence votes but the FAST and HRPP combined their votes to sink Fiame's budget last month, precipitating the early election.
That decision will mean the contest is likely to be a three-cornered tussle, between Tuila'epa's HRPP, Fiame's newly formed Samoa Uniting Party, and the FAST, under sacked minister La'auli Leuatea Polataivao.
In another quirk of Samoan politics, both Fiame and La'auli are both former HRPP, with Fiame serving as Tuila'epa's deputy prime minister from 2016-2020.
Other parties will contest the poll, including the Samoa National Democratic Party, Democracy Republic Party and the newly registered Samoa Labor Party.
The snap poll caused a rush among voters to update their registration and have their say.
Enrolment jumped from 52 per cent of the eligible population a fortnight ago to 59 per cent, according to the Samoa Observer.
The Head of State, Tuimalealiifano Sualauvi Vaaletoa II, formally announced the election date on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court rejected a bid to allow more time for preparations.
