General elections were held in Samoa on 4 March 2016 to determine the composition of the 16th Parliament. Two parties contested the election, the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), led by Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi, which had been in government for most of the time since 1982, and the Tautua Samoa Party (TSP), led by Opposition Leader Palusalue Faʻapo II.

The election was held following the passage of electoral reforms, including the implementation of a parliamentary women's quota that requires the legislature to have at least five female members. Parliament also introduced electoral boundary changes in 2015, which saw the abolition of the six double-member constituencies and the individual voters' seats, the constituents of the latter including voters with partial or no Samoan ancestry and individuals not connected to a traditional village.

The HRPP won a landslide re-election, securing 35 seats; although several cabinet ministers lost their seats. The TSP suffered a significant loss and retained only two seats, down from 13 in the 2011 election, and the party's leader was among those unseated. Only four female candidates were successful, resulting in the appointment of an additional female member to fulfil the women's quota, which increased parliament's seat count to 50. Following the election, 12 independents joined the HRPP, which increased the party's seats to 47 and preserved the ruling party's dominance over Samoan politics. The TSP was joined by one independent, increasing the party's seat share to three. Because the TSP failed to win at least eight seats, it lost recognition as a parliamentary party, which left Samoa without an official opposition.

Background The HRPP had dominated Samoan politics from when it first came into power in 1982 and had governed the country for most of the time since then. The party's leader, Tuila‘epa Sa‘ilele Malielegaoi, had been prime minister since 1998. During the 2011 general election, the HRPP won re-election, securing 29 seats. The newly founded opposition TSP secured 13 seats, and independents won the remaining seven. Following that election, all independents joined the HRPP, while several individuals lost their seats due to electoral petitions. One of these MPs was TSP leader Vaʻai Papu Vailupe; he was subsequently replaced as leader by Deputy Leader Palusalue Faʻapo II.

TSP defections

Olo Fiti Vaai (then known as Levaopolo Talatonu Vaai) resigned from the party in November 2015 to found a new opposition party. However, he announced that he would contest the 2016 election as an independent.

In February 2016, the TSP's chief whip and founder, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, defected to the HRPP, citing a request to do so by his constituents of Faleata West. Although Faapo respected Aiafi's decision, he was skeptical about the justification for the switch. Faapo expressed, "he (Aiafi) says it's what his constituency wants, but we all understand that decisions on which political party you choose is not up to your constituency because you cannot call the whole Faleata West constituency to meet and decide this." Malielegaoi believed that Aiafi's defection and his status as a founder of the TSP provided the opposition with a significant disadvantage.

Electoral system

The 49 members of the Legislative Assembly were elected from 49 single-member constituencies. All seats were elected using first-past-the-post voting. Candidates were required to be at least 21 years of age, be a Matai and resident of the country for at least three years prior the nomination date. Civil servants and people with mental illness were ineligible to stand as candidates. People convicted for bribery or an electoral offense, and people given a prison sentence of more than two years (including the death sentence), were also ineligible. Around 116,000 electors were registered for the election. The Constitution Amendment Act 2013 ensures a minimum of 10 per cent of seats in parliament were reserved for women.

Electoral reforms

In 2013 a constitutional amendment was passed in parliament, mandating that at least five members of the legislative assembly are women. If this quota were unfulfilled following an election, the amendment permits parliament to establish up to five additional seats that would be allocated to the unsuccessful female candidates with the highest quantity of votes. Parliament passed legislation in 2014 barring candidates from providing gifts to villages within their constituency until after an election in an attempt to stamp out undue influence and prevent excessive electoral petitions that follow. Parliamentary hopefuls had traditionally presented gifts to potential voters upon declaring their candidacy.

Electoral boundary changes

The legislative assembly introduced constituency boundary changes in 2015. The six double-member constituencies were split into twelve constituencies, each represented by one member of parliament. The reform also abolished the two individual voters seats, that were for voters with partial or no Samoan ancestry or citizens that had no ties to any traditional village. The Urban East and Urban West constituencies replaced the individual seats, and consisted of voters in Apia residing on non-customary land or those not tied to a traditional village. Individuals living in Apia who did have ties to a traditional village outside the capital could choose to either enrol in their home constituency or one of the urban electorates so long as they had lived in Apia for at least six months. The creation of the urban electorates resulted from voters from traditional villages around Apia expressing discontent with urban settlers allegedly having an overbearing influence over the electoral outcome in their constituencies. The abolition of the double-member seats reduced an imbalance of representation to a certain extent, as voters in these electorates were permitted to cast two votes. During the redrawing process, a major priority was to ensure the boundaries remained organised around the traditional political districts, all of which were tied to matai titles, to prevent tensions from arising. Population distribution was less of a priority, resulting in some constituencies remaining disproportionately larger than others.

Voters

Enrollment of eligible voters was compulsory; however, it was voluntary to cast a ballot. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1990, permitting Samoan citizens over the age of 21 to vote in person. Voting registration usually closes six months before a general election and re-opens immediately after. Voters could elect to enrol in a constituency rather than the one where they reside by right of significant family ties or matai titles. As a result, the population of constituencies and the constituency's voter roll have not always correlated. Samoan citizens residing abroad were permitted to register, but the government refused to entertain overseas voting. Therefore, voters abroad had to travel to Samoa to cast their ballots. This decision drew criticism from the opposition TSP, which demanded the government permit overseas voting. Prime minister Malielegaoi defended his government's decision and dismissed the opposition's pleas as a "foolish tactic" that would lead to the country "being governed by overseas Samoans".

Schedule

The election date was revealed in September 2015, and voter registration closed on 31 October of that year. The dissolution of parliament occurred on 29 January 2016, and the writ for the election was issued on 5 February. On the same day, the registration process for candidates opened and remained so until 18 February. The government declared 3 and 4 March to be a general election holiday. The return of writs occurred on 14 March.

DateEvent31 October 2015Registration for voters closes29 January 2016The 15th Parliament is dissolved 5 February 2016O le Ao o le Malo issues Writ for the election 18 February 2016Candidate nominations close4 March 2016Election day14 March 2016Writ for the election returned

Parties and candidates

A total of 171 candidates were nominated. Five were subsequently disqualified and two withdrew, which resulted in 164 candidates contesting the election. There were 24 female candidates, up from nine in the 2011 election. Two parties contested the election, the ruling HRPP led by Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi and the TSP led by Opposition Leader Palusalue Fa‘apo II. The HRPP fielded 81 candidates; the TSP 22 and 61 contenders ran as independents. However, 48 of the independents were associated with the HRPP and one was aligned with the TSP. The high quantity of Independents affiliated with the HRPP was due to the ruling party's policy of prioritising its incumbent members of parliament. In addition to four constituencies where the sole candidate was an HRPP member, candidates in 14 other constituencies solely consisted of hopefuls that were either a member of the HRPP or an affiliate of the party. Therefore, the HRPP was guaranteed to secure at least 18 seats. Several independents were affiliated with the TSP, although the number of these candidates was undefined.

PartyLeaderCandidatesFounded2011 seatsHuman Rights Protection Party Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi 81 1979 Tautua Samoa Party Palusalue Faʻapo II 22 2008 Independents 63

Campaign

Party politics played a minor role in this election, as candidates in one-third of the constituencies solely consisted of either HRPP members or independent contestants affiliated with the party. Although both party leaders appeared in the media, presenting their party's platforms, many contenders chose to campaign primarily on their personal record.

The HRPP released its manifesto in February 2016. The party promised to implement numerous developments, including an increase in employment, particularly amongst the youth, by bolstering apprenticeship and vocational training schemes to improve the rates of business establishment. Education was also a high priority for the party during the campaign. The HRPP pledged to extend the age of compulsory education from 14 to 17 years and to proceed with constructing schools throughout the country. The party also announced plans for healthcare development through a "Healthy Samoa" initiative. This plan included a boost in training health professionals, upgrading healthcare facilities and encouraging robust lifestyles via exercise throughout the country. Infrastructure development would continue under an additional term of the HRPP rule, including water sanitation, as would the party's efforts to combat climate change. During the campaign, Prime Minister Malielegaoi attacked the TSP's proposals, describing them as "weak" and "lacking substance". He also claimed, "The biggest issue I see is that they are copying our ideas" and asserted that his government's plans were "solid" because they did not "...take guesses" when planning projects. Malielegaoi also questioned how the TSP would fund their initiatives. Capital Radio Samoa predicted that the ruling party would win the elections.