FAST Party secured 30 seats at the polls. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii
Election petitions have closed in Samoa, with eight challenges lodged after last month's general election.
Four petitions have been filed by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), three by the governing Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) Party, and one by an independent candidate.
Ministry of Justice and Courts chief executive Papali'i John Taimalelagi Afele said anyone planning a counter-petition has five working days to file before the Supreme Court sets hearing dates.
Laauli Leuatea Schmidt's FAST Party secured 30 seats at the polls - more than twice as many as the HRPP, which came in second with 14 seats, and ten times more than former Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa's Samoa Uniting Party (SUP), which won just 3.
FAST now has 31 seats having been joined by one extra MP, who contested the election as an independent.
Samoan political analyst Lagipoiva Dr Cherelle Jackson told ABC Pacific Beat last month that the election petitions are unlikely to have any significant impact on FAST's standing.
"There are always grey areas when it comes to election petitions... but the likelihood of [them] having a huge impact on the ruling party is very, very low," she said.
