Namulau'ulu Leota Sami Leota is officially the new Member of Parliament representing the Fa'asaleleaga Nu. 2 constituency.

The seat was left vacant following the passing of the Late Pa’u Sefo Pa’u in January this year. 

The official announcement by the Electoral Commissioner Faimalomatumua Mathew Lemisio Saturday follows the extensive process of counting the ballots one by one in the presence of Police Officers since 9.00am. 

According to the official results, Namulau’ulu (Human Rights Protection Party) won by 1,208 votes with independent candidate Maileimalo Eneliko Pa’u coming second with 685, followed by Papali’i Li’o Masepau (HRPP) with 564 votes and Lema’i Faioso Sione (Samoa First Political Party) with 14 votes.

Faimalo told the Sunday Samoan, the Office of the Electoral Commissioner is very pleased with the outcome of the by election. 

“Purely from an administrative point of view, we are very happy with how the process went. 

“We’ve seen the positives of the reforms in our process, but we still need time to sit down and analyse the process in its totality, to ensure that we get a complete overview of how this by-election went down. 

“But as we said, from an administrative point of view we are very pleased with how things went.” 

In relation to the voting process, Faimalo was enthralled with the voters. 

 “Really impressed with the voters in terms of voting, there is no informal or spoilt vote in this by election. We’re very impressed by that fact. We’d like to think that this is the result of our ongoing public awareness programs. Also for the first time, we have included on our ballot papers the photos of candidates.” 

There was a total of 3,487 registered voters for the district in questions and the number of voters who turned up at the polling booths was 2,471.

“It’s a very high voter’s turn out but still quite a fair number of people who also didn’t vote.” 

The Electoral Commissioner commended the assistance of the Ministry of Police in Savai’i, led by Police Superintendent Sala’a Sale Sala’a, whom he described as “very professional.” 

“Also we are very impressed with the assistance of Police to ensure the smooth running of the by election. Right from the beginning of the pre polling process to the completion of the official count. Very professional. They have guarded our ballot boxes on a 24 hour shift. We greatly appreciate this assistance,” he said.

The media was also acknowledged for the coverage and keeping the country informed right throughout the process. 

“Especially those who braved the official counting process from start to end. We really value your work.” 

Namulau'ulu also thanked his families, all his voters and supporters. 

“I also want to acknowledge the other determination of the other candidates for getting into the race, as it is not an easy task. It is my wish that I shall continue to work together with them towards our collective efforts to better serve our constituency of Fa’asaleleaga Nu.2,” he said.