The number of women in Parliament has now dropped to four after an elected woman Member of Parliament agreed to resign from office as a condition of settling a legal challenge against her election. 

Falealupo M.P.-elect, Leota Tima Leavai, had a petition against her withdrawn and granted by the Supreme Court on Friday. But Leota, a lawyer by profession, agreed to resign and pay a total of $10,000 to her rival candidate as part of the deal and also agreed to a condition stating that she would not stand in any by-election.

Petitioner and Fa’atuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party candidate, Fuiono Tenina Crichton, said he is likely run in the resulting by-election for the constituency but would first seek his village’s endorsement. 

Leota’s vacant seat reduces the number of female Members of Parliament to four down from the minimum of six women that the Court of Appeal recently determined had to be in the Legislative Assembly to meet a constitutional requirement. 

The controversial provision in the constitution requires 10 per cent of M.P.s in the Parliament, a number the Court of Appeal recently determined to be six. But the addition of women members can also only be activated after all petitions and by-elections are finalised, the court ruled. 

From the initial five women (including Leota Tima) who won seats in April’s national elections  – three have faced legal challenges from their unsuccessful opponents. 

Leota has resigned from office, Faasaleleaga No. 1 elected M.P., Matamua Vasati Pulufana has already settled her electoral challenge with former Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti. 

That leaves the remaining petition against Palauli No. 1 elected female M.P., Mulipola Anarosa Molioo scheduled for next week Wednesday. 

If at the conclusion of the electoral petition and by-election process not enough women prevail to fill the mandated seats, then the Electoral Commissioner is obliged to appoint other women who performed well in the general election but did not emerge as victors. The best performing women are determined by the percentage of votes they claimed in their respective electorates, not the absolute number of votes they claimed. 

Once the Office of the Electoral Commissioner announced an intention to add a sixth woman to Parliament's roll, the next best performing but unelected woman candidate is the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) aligned candidate Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau. Whether she could be elected was the subject of a case that made its way to the Court of Appeal.

The next best performing woman is F.A.S.T.'s candidate, Toomata Norah Leota, who is currently locked in a legal battle of her own after challenging H.R.P.P. deputy leader Fonotoe Pierre Lauofo. The Supreme Court issued warrants of arrest for witnesses scheduled to testify in her case. 

Toomata is facing a counter petition mounted by H.R.P.P. deputy leader, Lauofo Fonotoe Lauofo in response to her challenging his election.

If the number of women M.P.s-elect stay as they are the activation of the quota will bring in an additional two members to Parliament.

With Leota exiting Parliament before she had the chance to take her oath of office, the H.R.P.P.'s contingent has dropped to 20 compared to F.A.S.T.'s 26.

The caretaker Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi, and leader of the H.R.P.P. earlier this week expressed confidence that the party would regain all seats lost through legal challenges, bringing their number of M.P.s on Parliament's floor back to 25.