Seven by-elections have been triggered by post-election settlements as well as the Supreme Court’s decision to void the seats of a number of Members-elect.

Two by-elections were ordered for two seats after the Supreme Court ruled that the Members-elect for the Sagaga No. 2 and the Aleipata-Itupa-i-Lalo seats were guilty of corrupt practices.

Five other by-elections were triggered by “settlement in principle”, where the Members-elect were asked to resign from office and return to the polls, as part of agreements with the petitioners to drop the legal challenges.

The affected territorial constituencies include Sagaga No. 1, Sagaga No. 4, Safata No. 1, Safata No. 2 and Falealupo. 

For the Sagaga No. 4 seat, Member-elect Tuisa Tasi Patea agreed to resign as part of a settlement with the petitioner, but the application to withdraw the petition was later denied by the Supreme Court.

The Court this week rejected the application to withdraw the petition filed by the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party-endorsed first runner up, Tagaloatele Poloa against Tuisa with the case scheduled for hearing on 27 July. 

An extraordinary 28 petitions were filed with the Supreme Court by unsuccessful candidates following April’s general election, confirming a close race between the country’s two dominant political parties.

Two electoral petitions that sought to unseat the Members-elect were successful – Aelipata-Itupa-Lalo and Sagaga No. 2 – while four other election petitions failed to get the Court to void the victories of the Members-elect. 

The unsuccessful election petitions mean that the Members-elect from the April election for Faleata No. 1, Salega No. 1, Aana Alofi No. 3 and Faasaleleaga No. 2 have secured their seats for the next parliamentary term. 

The Court has reserved its decision on the election petitions for the Anoamaa No. 2 and Vaisigano No. 1 seats after substantive hearings for the election petitions.

A panel of six Supreme Court Justices have been sitting simultaneously for three months to hear the cases as well as deal with matters connected to the constitutional crisis which remain on foot in the Court of Appeal.

There are five election petitions left for the Court to determine and are likely to be concluded before 2 August 2021, which is the day the Head of State says the XVII Parliament will be convened. 

However, it appears highly unlikely that the by-elections that the Court has ordered for the various constituencies with vacant seats would have been completed.

Currently, the F.A.S.T. party remains in the lead with a clear majority of 26 seats in the 51-seat Parliament with the seats previously held by the H.R.P.P. dropping from 25 to 18 as a result of the election petitions’ outcome.