UPDATE: Late on Friday night, Samoan media reported FAST had won 25 seats, the governing Human Rights Protection Party 25 seats, with one independent, Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio, who won the seat for Gaga'emauga number one, possibly holding the balance of power on provisional results. Confirmation counts are expected over the weekend.
After four decades in power, the governing party faces its most formidable electoral challenge. Regardless of the outcome, the impact will be long-lasting
As Samoa’s longest serving head of government, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi is accustomed to life on top.
Malielegaoi has dealt with five different New Zealand prime ministers in his 23 years leading the island nation. His Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) has held power even longer, serving in government since 1982.
While there has been no official opposition in Samoa’s Fono, or Parliament, since the HRRP’s last landslide victory in 2016, it faces a genuine challenge this time around in the form of the Faatuatua i Le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party, with Samoan voters heading to the polls today, Friday.
Dr Iati Iati, a senior politics lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, said there has been considerably more attention paid to this year’s election than previous iterations by voters in Samoa and the wider diaspora.
“People got their ears pricked up last year because of three controversial bills that were passed, that got a lot more people involved and engaged in this election.”
The legislation in question – the Constitution Amendment Bill, the Judicature Bill, and the Land and Titles Bill – caused concern in Samoa and beyond due to the dramatic constitutional reform they entailed
Despite objections from the country’s judiciary, the Samoa Law Society and other high-profile figures about the rushed process and lack of consultation, the bills were passed into law last December.
Iati said many Samoans were concerned about how their customary land rights and matai (chiefly titles) would be affected as a result, while 2008 changes to customary land titles had led to marches and political protest.
“There has been growing discontent with what has been perceived to be over-reach.”
The controversy sparked the resignation of several MPs from the ruling party – including Malielegaoi’s former deputy prime minister turned main rival, FAST leader Fiame Naomi Mata'afa.
Mata’afa, the daughter of Samoa’s first prime minister, said at the time of her resignation last September that the country was “sliding away from the rule of law”.
In turn, Malielegaoi earlier this year ordered a commission of inquiry into Mata’afa and three FAST MPs over allegations of treason - a claim she dismissed as “quite ridiculous”.
Despite that seeming animosity, Iati said Malielegaoi had in the past called for a stronger opposition and more recently offered some “very diplomatic” words about Mata’afa.
“I don’t think he’s seeing opposition as something that’s necessarily bad for Samoan democracy - there are a few personal issues he may have with some of the candidates, but by and large he’s got what he asked for.”
There had been a tradition of cordial relations between Samoan governments and oppositions, a trend he expected to continue despite the tighter contest this time around.
The role of Samoa’s diaspora has also been in the spotlight, with some criticism of the country’s voting rules which require citizens to be in the country for six months prior to an election.
While there have been calls for the rules to be loosened, Iati did not believe opening voting rights to all offshore Samoans would be desirable, given the diaspora significantly outnumbered those who actually lived in the country.
However, Iati said the importance of the diaspora to Samoa’s economy, through remittances sent home by overseas workers, could not be disregarded.
Diaspora communities have certainly made their presence felt despite the lack of voting rights, raising more than US$500,000 for FAST according to The Guardian.
Early voting has shown a slim lead for the HRPP, and while Iati was unwilling to predict a winner, he said there had been no signs of “a seismic shift in the traditional powerbase of the Government to suggest they would lose”.
But even if Mata’afa and FAST fail to end the Prime Minister’s long reign, Iati believed simply a strong showing, and a healthy opposition, would be valuable for the country.
