Electoral system for national legislature

Office of the Electoral Commission (Ofisa o le Komsi o Faiga Palota), Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa 1960, accessed 30 September 2025. Available through Legislation & Publications.

Part V, Parliament

44. Members of the Legislative Assembly - (1) Subject to the provisions of this Article, the Legislative Assembly shall consist of one member elected for each of 51 electoral constituencies having names, and comprising of villages or sub-villages as are prescribed from time to time by Act.

Office of the Electoral Commission (Ofisa o le Komsi o Faiga Palota), Electoral Act 2019, accessed 30 September 2025. Available through Legislation & Publications.

71. Method of voting:

(1) The voter, having received a ballot paper, must immediately go into one of the inner compartments provided for marking his or her vote, and must there alone and secretly indicate on the ballot paper the candidate he or she desires to vote for by marking a tick (√) in a square set opposite to the name that candidate. […]

84. Declaration of result of poll:

(1) When all the ballot papers have been dealt with under Division 2, the Commissioner, having ascertained the total number of votes received by each candidate, must immediately declare the result of the poll, including the number of votes received by each candidate by giving public notice in the prescribed Form and report the result of the poll to the Head of State. […]

(3) Where there is an equality of votes between candidates and the addition of a vote would entitle one of those candidates to be declared elected, the Commissioner must immediately apply to a District Court Judge for a recount under section 85, and that section applies accordingly, except that no deposit is necessary.