Overview

• Voters cast ballots Friday, with official counting scheduled from Monday through Sept. 5 before results are announced, according to election authorities cited by AP.
• The race features Fiamē leading the newly formed Samoa Uniting Party, former long-serving prime minister Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi for HRPP, and La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polata’ivao Schmidt now heading FAST.
• Campaigning centered on cost-of-living pressures and prolonged electricity blackouts, with consumer prices reported up nearly 30% since 2022 by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics.
• Policy contrasts include Fiamē’s tariff cuts and expanded services, Tuila’epa’s universal 500 tala payments and a proposed 23 km inter-island bridge he says could draw partner funding such as from China, and La’aulialemalietoa’s targeted allowances for pregnant women and low-income families.
• Samoa’s 51-seat parliament drew 187 candidates under rules that require at least 10% women legislators, and the election follows a 2021 impasse that sharpened calls for stability and careful handling of foreign financing ties with China, Australia and New Zealand.