Electoral system family

Samoa, Constitution, accessed 11 April 2021

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 subvillages as are prescribed from time to time by Act.

(Note – clauses (1) and (3) commence on the day the Head of State dissolves the Legislative Assembly under Article 63(4) of the Constitution for the 2021 general elections as per Article 1(2) of the Constitution Amendment Act (No.3) 2019, No. 10)

Samoa, Electoral Act 2019, accessed 11 April 2021

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.