Pre-Polled Votes to be Counted on Monday – Changes Possible and Special Measure for Women’s Seats to be Applied
The Office of the Electoral Commissioner has confirmed the 1,011 pre-polled votes will be counted on Monday.
Preliminary results shows FAST has won four of the by-election seats, while HRPP are ahead ahead for two.
FAST secured Aleipata Itupa i Lalo with former Manu Samoa Coach Faleomavaega Fuimaono Titimaea Tafua, Falealili 2 with Maiava Fuimaono Tito, Safata 2 with Laumatiamanu Ringo Purcell and Sagaga 4 with Tagaloatele Pasi Poloa.
It is highly unlikely with 6 candidates, but there is a numerical possibility for the Sagaga 2 result to change. HRPP’s Maulolo Tavita Amosa is leading the Sagaga 2 constituency by 47 votes, while there are still 143 votes from pre-polling yet to be counted.
HRPP’s Aiono Tile Gafa is leading the Aana Alofi 2 seat by only 9 votes, however, there are 58 votes yet to be counted from pre-polling. The seat is therefore much too close to call until pre-polling ballots are counted.
Women’s Seats
If Lolomatauama secures the Aana Alofi 2 seat, she would be the fifth woman in Parliament. That would leave the special measure to be applied to only one seat.
Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau would most likely be the sixth woman in Parliament having secured 40% of votes casted in her constituency at the April 9 general election.
If Lolomatauama does not secure the Aana Alofi 2 seat, then the special measure would need to be applied to two women.
The four women in the race would therefore be Aliimalemanu with 40 03%, Toomata Norah with 35.45%, and Lolomatauama and Faagasealii whose percentages cannot be confirmed until the final count on Monday.
Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau won 464 votes out of 1159 total votes casted. Her total percentage is 40.03%. Toomata Norah Leota won 780 votes out of 2,200 so her total percentage is 35.45%.
Preliminary percentages for Lolomatauama and Faagasealii can shift up or down depending on final results.
Lolomatauama – 359/1022 x 100 = 35.13 (rounded to nearest tenth)
Faagasealii – 594/1620 x 100 = 36.67 (rounded to nearest tenth)
Election Petitions
It is hoped Samoa will not go through another round of election petitions, however, the requirement of attaining at least half the votes to bring a petition has been achieved in all 6 constituencies.
The application of the special measure for the additional woman or women, would therefore need to be placed on the back burner once again.. until the completion of any by-elections.
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