Election result

The new FAST party, which has the same number of seats as the caretaker HRPP party, at 26, is seeking to have the Supreme Court overturn the appointment of a sixth woman to parliament.

Last week the Office of the Electoral Commission appointed Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuaau to ensure that at least ten percent of the parliament's seats are held by women.

But FAST claims in its motion to the court, that this is a misreading of the constitution.

Samoa's Head of State has declared that an additional seat has been added after an article in the country's constitution, regarding female representation, was activated.

Article 44(1A) requires that a minimum of 10 percent of Parliament's seats be occupied by female members.

In a public notice last night the Electoral Commission Office announced that the Article had been activated because the election results had not met the 10 percent threshold. Rather, "Only 9.8 percent of the women membership was achieved after the general election".

The FAST leader says final negotiations will be held over the coming week with an independent MP who may hold the balance of power.

Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party leader Fiame Naomi Mata'afa said she and the independent MP for Gagaemauga 1 will meet early in the coming week to further discussions.

Fiame said she and Tuala Tevaga Ponifasio agreed to wait until election results were confirmed, which happened last night.