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Samoa's national election returns FAST party with new leader
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Samoa's FAST party wins the national election with 30 seats, introducing Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt as the new leader.
SYDNEY (Reuters) -A national election in the Pacific island nation of Samoa has resulted in a resounding win for the incumbent FAST party, but will deliver a new leader, after Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa split from FAST before the poll.
Official results released by Samoa's electoral commission on Friday showed that FAST, led by Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, won 30 out of the 50 seats contested. The new Samoa Uniting Party, formed by Fiame, won only three seats, including her own.
The opposition Human Rights Protection Party won 14 seats and independent candidates won four seats.
On Friday, Samoa's head of state, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, issued a warrant confirming the names of the new lawmakers who will form Samoa's next parliament.
Five women won seats. The Samoa Observer reported, that under a 10 percent minimum representation rule, at least six women must sit in parliament, necessitating the creation of an additional seat.
Fiame, Samoa's first female leader, was expelled from FAST in January after she dismissed Laaulialemalietoa, the party's founder and chairman, from cabinet.
Laaulialemalietoa is expected to be sworn in as Samoa's next prime minister.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
The FAST party won a significant victory, securing 30 out of 50 seats contested.
Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt is expected to be sworn in as Samoa's next prime minister.
Five women won seats in the election, but due to a minimum representation rule, an additional seat will be created.
Fiame was expelled from the FAST party in January after dismissing the party's founder from cabinet.
The opposition Human Rights Protection Party won 14 seats, and independent candidates secured four seats.
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