Samoa votes in an election that will decide the fate of its first woman leader

A failed vote prompted the snap election

Samoa’s next national election was due in April 2026 but Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa’s abrupt admission that her minority government couldn’t continue prompted the early poll. Fiamē’s dissolution of Parliament came when her budget was rejected during a swift vote in the capital, Apia.

Political havoc had roiled for months. Fiamē’s sacking in January of one of her Cabinet ministers, who faced a raft of criminal charges, prompted the ousted minister to in turn expel Fiamē from her FAST political party.

The move provoked two votes of no confidence for the leader, which she narrowly survived before stumbling at the budget vote.

3 candidates are vying to be leader

Samoa’s parliament has 51 seats, with 187 candidates standing in this poll. Each hopeful must hold a chiefly title in their home region and complete mandatory service in their community to be eligible for the vote.

The law requires that 10% of legislators are women, rare for a region that has some of the world’s lowest rates for women in office. The mechanism to reach that threshold, in case not enough women are voted in, is complex and has previously produced a disputed result.

There were six political parties represented in Friday’s vote and the prime minister is usually the leader of the party with the largest number of lawmakers in office. Three parties with the most candidates are vying to lead the country in Friday’s vote.

One is led by Fiamē, who has since May formed a new group, the Samoa Uniting Party. One of her challengers is Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, the leader of the Human Rights Protection Party, who was prime minister for 22 years before Fiamē took office in 2021.

The third contender is La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polata’ivao Schmidt, the lawmaker sacked by Fiamē in January and who now leads her former FAST party. He’s still fighting the charges he faced, which include harassment using electronic means, defamation and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He denies the allegations.

The campaign was dominated by the cost of living

All major parties have centered their election campaigns on the strain caused by inflation, particularly the affordability of food. Attention also centered on the severe electricity shortages that have led to blackouts and economic slowdown in Samoa this year.

Fiamē’s opponents, both charismatic and experienced politicians, have promoted populist initiatives, including universal payments to every Samoan and free hospital care, although critics said they have not explained how they would fund the measures.

Tuila’epa, the long-serving former prime minister, pledged to build a 23 kilometer (14 mile) bridge between Samoa’s two largest islands. He responded to questions about the cost of his policy by saying his government would work with development partners such as China to fund the bridge.

La’aulialemalietoa’s pledges involve payments for pregnant women and low-income families.

Fiamē dismissed criticism that the cost of living had worsened due to her government’s actions. She too has targeted her election promises to that issue, but her party’s pledges are more measured, including removing taxes from basic food items and increasing pensions.

She was the country’s first woman prime minister and the daughter of a former leader of Samoa. Fiamē is one of the region’s longest-serving politicians and the second woman leader of a Pacific Island country.

The vote could affect Samoa’s place in the Pacific

The election campaign has focused on domestic matters. But polls in the Pacific Islands often signal a refreshed balance of relationships between the small island countries and their larger donors.

In the Pacific, projects and initiatives have historically been funded largely by Australia and New Zealand, but China has in the past decade increasingly offered agreements, funding and loans to Pacific governments.

Such moves have prompted alarm among Western powers about growing sway for Beijing in the vast oceanic region.

Fiamē has been cautious about allowing Samoa’s debt to Beijing, one of the highest in the world when measured by percentage of GDP, to grow and in 2021 cancelled a port that would have added millions of dollars to the country’s tab.

Tuila’epa, the former leader who promised a bridge between two islands, has encouraged infrastructure projects reliant on Chinese loans.

Fiamē has also drawn attention outside of Samoa for urging larger powers, such as Australia, to do more to curb the effects of climate change, which have been ruinous for low-lying Pacific island nations.