WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Samoa’s incumbent ruling party will return to power with a new leader at the helm after the first woman prime minister was toppled in elections that followed months of political turmoil.
FAST, the former political party of ousted leader Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, will remain in the majority when Parliament resumes in the Pacific Island nation on Sept. 16. But the result will usher in a new prime minister following bitter infighting in the party this year.
La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt, who now leads FAST, is expected to be confirmed as the next prime minister.
Fiamē, who led Samoa since 2021, in January sacked La’aulialemalietoa as a cabinet minister after he was charged with criminal offenses. La’aulialemalietoa, also the FAST party chairman, in turn expelled Fiamē from FAST altogether.
Her minority government staggered on before collapsing in May when she was unable to pass her budget. That prompted her to seek an election earlier than the vote scheduled for 2026, in which she was forced to run against her own former party.
Government collapse led to a shake-up at the polls
In August’s vote, Fiamē campaigned as the leader of the new Samoa Uniting Party but won only three seats in Parliament, dashing her hopes of returning as prime minister. FAST won 30 seats, the opposition Human Rights Protection Party captured 14 and independents took four.
Samoa’s Head of State Tuimalealiifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II, who occupies a ceremonial post, said Monday that the country’s new Parliament will sit on Sept. 16 to confirm a new prime minister.
Fiamē, whose party did not win the eight seats required to sit as a bloc in Parliament, must now decide whether she and her other two lawmakers will join one of the larger groups or enter as independents.
The third contender for prime minister was Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, the leader of the Human Rights Protection Party, who was prime minister for 22 years before in 2021.
Election result will be contested in court
La’aulialemalietoa of FAST is expected to win this month’s vote to become prime minister but he faces obstacles. Both of FAST’s rival parties plan to file legal motions challenging the result, making claims including allegations of cash for votes, according to the Samoa Observer newspaper.
“Just giving out money, no sugar-coating,” said Renate Rivers, a senior journalist for Pacific Media Network and a former public servant in Samoa, who covered the vote. “The scale this time around has been very alarming.”
The lawsuits are unlikely to change the election result. They also are not uncommon in Samoa, where Fiamē came to power during a legal and constitutional crisis in 2021.
Rivers said the criminal charges faced by the prime minister-elect were also unprecedented, however. La’aulialemalietoa is awaits a judgement over the charges he faced, which he denies. They include harassment using electronic means, defamation and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a PM or an incoming PM who’s had this sort of cloud over their head even before they’ve been sworn in,” Rivers said.
Likely victor promised less central government control
The cost of living dominated the election campaign. Voters in the small island nation of about 220,000 people appeared to be swayed by FAST’s promises of increasing community development budgets at a local level, which will shift decision-making away from central government.
FAST also promised lower taxes. Detractors of La’aulialemalietoa said he hadn’t explained how he would fund his policies.
The defeat of Fiamē and Tuila’epa signalled an abrupt change for Samoa after decades of dynasties, Rivers said, adding that La’aulialemalietoa’s focus was likely to be domestic, rather than on regional policies that steer Samoa’s course in the geopolitically contested South Pacific Ocean.
Fiamē was more cautious than her predecessor about accepting loans from China for development projects. Samoa’s debt to China is among the highest in the world when measured by percentage of GDP and reflects a period when Beijing has sought to curry sway in the Pacific by funding infrastructure and law enforcement initiatives.
The tenure ends for a rare woman in Pacific politics
During her tenure, Fiamē drew attention as the country’s first woman prime minister and the daughter of a former leader of Samoa. She is one of the region’s longest-serving politicians and the second woman leader of a Pacific Island country.
Another lawmaker might still enter Parliament. The law requires 10% of legislators to be women, rare for a region with some of the world’s lowest rates for women in office.
The Samoa Observer reported the five woman lawmakers voted into office was one short of the 10% rule and another seat might be added to accommodate the quota.
