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1976 Western Samoan general election

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Field	Value
country	Western Samoa
outgoing_members	List of members of the Legislative Assembly of Western Samoa (1973–1976)
elected_members	List of members of the Legislative Assembly of Western Samoa (1976–1979)
type	parliamentary
previous_election	1973 Western Samoan general election
previous_year	1973
next_election	1979 Western Samoan general election
next_year	1979
seats_for_election	All 47 seats in the Legislative Assembly
election_date	21 February 1976
party1	Independents
last_election1	47 seats
seats1	47
seat_change1
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Subsequent Prime Minister
before_election	Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV
Acting
after_election	Tupuola Efi
before_party	Independent politician
after_party	Independent politician

Acting

General elections were held in Western Samoa on 21 February 1976. All candidates ran as independents and voting was restricted to Matai and citizens of European origin ("individual voters"), with the Matai electing 45 MPs and Europeans two. Following the election, Tupuola Efi became prime minister.

Background

In the aftermath of the previous elections held in 1973, parliament elected Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II to another non-consecutive term as prime minister, defeating the incumbent Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV and challenger Tupuola Efi. Fiamē served as Western Samoa's head of government until his death two years later in 1975. The O le Ao o le Malo (head of state) Malietoa Tanumafili II appointed Tupua Tamasese to serve as acting prime minister until the next election.

Campaign

A total of 169 candidates contested the 47 seats. Four seats had only one candidate, who was returned unopposed.

Results

Of the 36 incumbent MLAs contesting the elections, only 14 were re-elected. Ministers Alfonso Philipp and Fepuleai Samuelu were amongst those losing their seats.

Aftermath

The election result in Fa'asaleleaga No. 4 where I'iga Suafole had won by one vote was overturned following a petition by runner-up Mulitalo Siafausa, who claimed that unqualified voters had participated in the election. The Supreme Court annulled one vote for Suafole, and a by-election was ordered for the seat.

Following the elections, the Legislative Assembly elected Leota Leuluaiali'i Ituau Ale as Speaker. In the contest for prime minister, Tupuola Efi defeated the incumbent Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV by 31 votes to 16, becoming the first prime minister not to hold one of the four Tama-a-Aiga titles. Efi appointed a nine-member cabinet, while Lealofi resigned from the Assembly and was elected to the Council of Deputies.

Position	Minister
Prime Minister	Tupuola Efi
Minister of Agriculture	Fuimaono Mimio
Minister of Communications	Tofaeono Tile
Minister of Economic Affairs	Asi Eikeni
Minister of Education	Lilomaiava Niko
Minister of Finance	Vaovasamanaia Filipo
Minister of Justice	Ulualofaiga Talamaivao Niko
Minister of Lands	Mano Togamau
Minister of Works	Letiu Tamatoa

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p782 {{ISBN. 0-19-924959-8
(April 1973). "Stomachs, cars and liquor bars loomed large in Samoa election". Pacific Islands Monthly.
[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332540656/view?partId=nla.obj-332567114#page/n28/mode/1up Tupuola Efi dispels a myth and upsets a Samoan tradition] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', May 1976, pp29–30
[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332539771/view?partId=nla.obj-332550731#page/n74/mode/1up Campaigning at the bar] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', March 1976, p75
[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332555206/view?partId=nla.obj-332575499#page/n10/mode/1up One lousy vote!] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', June 1976, p11

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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