Sixth woman MP to join Sāmoa Parliament

Sāmoa is set to add a sixth woman to Parliament after Friday's two by-elections.

Electoral Commissioner Tuiafelolo Alexander John Stanley has confirmed the constitutional process will be activated once the results are finalised.

Polling has been completed in Vaimauga III and Falealili I, where all 11 candidates are men. That means the number of directly elected women MPs will remain at five.

Asked by PMN News whether Article 44 would be triggered once the two seats were finalised, Tuiafelolo said: “Absolutely correct.”

He said the successful candidates for Vaimauga III and Falealili I, along with an “Additional Member of Parliament (Article 44)”, would be announced on Monday 21 September, once consented to by the Head of State.

The move follows a long-running legal process over how Sāmoa's constitutional minimum for women in Parliament should be applied.

Tuiafelolo Alexander John Stanley oversees Sāmoa’s Electoral Commission. Photo/Office of the Electoral Commission

Article 44 provides for additional women MPs when the minimum level of representation is not reached.

The Court of Appeal ruled in 2021 that the constitutional requirement means at least six women MPs, and that the Article 44 determination should be made after electoral petitions and any resulting by-elections have been completed.

The additional member is selected by comparing the percentage of valid votes received by unsuccessful women candidates in their constituencies, rather than looking at their raw vote totals.

Preliminary results have started to roll in for the by-elections in Sāmoa. Photo/OEC

Tuiafelolo did not identify who would receive the additional seat.

However, Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) secretary Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi told PMN News former MP Aliimalemanu Alofa Tu'uau would take the quota seat.

“Aliimalemanu will now take the quota seat for women,” he said.

Aliimalemanu was identified as the unsuccessful woman candidate with the highest vote percentage when the Supreme Court considered HRPP's Article 44 application in December 2025.

“The last by-election that she was waiting on is the one for Falealili I,” Lealailepule said.

Lealailepule said Falealili I was the final by-election arising from a 2025 general election petition, while Vaimauga III's vacancy followed the resignation of Taioaliiseu Fiti Aimaasu.

Former MP Aliimalemanu Alofa Tu'uau is expected by HRPP to take Sāmoa’s additional women’s quota seat under Article 44. Photo/Savali Newspaper

The timing of the appointment has been tied to the courts' interpretation of Article 44. In 2021, the Court of Appeal said the determination had to wait until the general election results were finally settled including any electoral petitions and by-elections.

Sāmoa has previously used Article 44 to add women to Parliament. In 2021, two women, including Aliimalemanu, were appointed under the provision based on their percentage of votes after by-elections. The process was later challenged in court.

The absence of women candidates in Friday's two by-elections has again put the spotlight on women's participation in Sāmoan politics.

Recent research by Sāmoan gender specialist Dr Mema Motusaga and Elise Howard describes the constitutional measure as a “safety net” for women’s representation.

Their research also examines how political institutions and interpretations of cultural relationships have shaped women's participation in politics.

Former Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa has previously said greater representation required “challenging the cultural impediments and social conditioning to create a more supportive environment for women to participate in politics”.

Watch (Sāmoan) live coverage of the preliminary count in Friday's by-elections.

With four men contesting Vaimauga III and seven in Falealili I, Friday's polls cannot increase the number of women MPs through direct election.

Instead, the next woman in Sāmoa's Parliament is expected to come through the constitutional mechanism designed to ensure women reach the minimum level of representation.