2025 Samoan general election
Updated: Wikipedia source
General elections were held in Samoa on 29 August 2025 to determine the composition of the 18th Parliament. Initially expected to be held in 2026, Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa called a snap election after parliament voted down the government budget on 27 May 2025. The Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party came to power after the 2021 election and subsequent constitutional crisis, which ended the 22-year premiership of Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi and the nearly four-decade governance of his Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP). In January 2025, Mata‘afa and four other cabinet ministers were expelled from FAST after she dismissed party chairman Laʻauli Leuatea Schmidt from cabinet following his refusal to resign after being charged with criminal offences. Mata‘afa and the expelled ministers initially rejected their expulsions and claimed they were still party members. FAST subsequently split, with Schmidt leading a faction of 20 MPs while Mata‘afa led a minority government. Mata‘afa survived two no-confidence motions, one on 25 February and another on 6 March. Shortly after the election was called, Mata‘afa and her cabinet confirmed their departure from FAST and established the Samoa Uniting Party (SUP). Most of the six parties that contested the election campaigned on issues concerning welfare, health and the economy. FAST won a majority of seats, securing 30. The HRPP won 14 seats. Three SUP and four independent candidates were also successful. Schmidt succeeded Mata‘afa as prime minister on 16 September.