2026 Safata 1 by-election
A by-election to the Legislative Assembly of Samoa will be held in the Safata 1 constituency on 27 February 2026. Initially scheduled for 6 February, cabinet postponed the by-election on 15 January without an explanation; the new date was disclosed on 30 January. The by-election was triggered after the Electoral Court voided the election of the previous member, Seve Teʻi Fuimaono of the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi party, who was found to have engaged in bribery and treating during the 2025 general election campaign.
Background
Seve Teʻi Fuimaono of the FAST Party won the electorate during the 2025 general election. She defeated the incumbent member, Leaʻana Ronnie Posini of the Human Rights Protection Party, who placed second and the Samoa Uniting Party's Fepuleai Samuelu Taufao. FAST subsequently formed a government under Prime Minister Laʻauli Leuatea Schmidt, and Fuimaono became the minister of natural resources and environment. After the election, Posini filed an electoral petition against Fuimaono, accusing her of having engaged in bribery and treating during the campaign. In response, Fuimaono filed a counter-petition against Posini, also accusing him of corrupt electoral practices. In late November 2025, the electoral court found both of them guilty of corruption, voiding Fuimaono's election and triggering a by-election in the seat. Fuimaono and Posini were subsequently added to the national corrupt list and were not permitted to vote in the by-election. They were also barred from contesting any elections for 10 years.Electoral system
Elections to all 51 of the directly elected seats in the Legislative Assembly are conducted through the first-past-the-post voting system. Candidates are required to hold a matai title, be at least 21 years old, and have resided in Samoa for a minimum of three years before the nomination date. Individuals convicted of a crime in Samoa or any other country within the previous eight years, and people with a mental illness, were ineligible to stand as candidates. Civil servants were permitted to run as long as they resigned from their positions. Should civil servants fail to do so, the date of filing their candidacy is, by law, deemed to be the point when they relinquish their role.Universal Suffrage took effect in 1991, permitting all Samoan citizens aged 21 and over the right to vote. Compulsory voting and mandatory voter registration were in place for the by-election. Electors who failed to vote were required to pay 100 tālā, while eligible individuals who did not register on the electoral roll before the deadline were liable to pay a 2000 tālā fine. As Samoa did not employ overseas voting at the time of the by-election, electors enrolled in the Safata 1 constituency were required to be present in the country to vote.