By Staff Writer
Sixty four per cent of the 1445 voters officially registered for the Gagaifomauga No. 3 by-election turned up at the polling booths in Savai’i on Friday.
Former incumbent MP La’auli Leuatea Schmidt claimed 71% of the total vote in the provisional count to win over his lone rival, Fa’aulusau Simi Laulua.
The win was no suprise with three of the four villages in the electoral constituency announcing endorsement of the eventual winner before the election polls opened.
The villages of Letui, Fagae’e and Sasina voted overwhelmingly for La’auli. The village of Aopo remained loyal to home candidate Fa’aulusau with their partisan vote.
Elections officials from the Office of the Electoral Commissioner were already in position at the 4 elections booth in each of the villages before the voters arrived at the start of polling.
Mobil polling booths were set up for Tuasivi Hospital in Savai’i, Moto’otua and Mapuifagalele in Upolu.
Voting started 8.00am in the morning and closed at 3.00pm in the afternoon.
The by-election winner will return to Parliament where he had recently gone through a run of several controversies that eventually ended in a forced resignation.
He will serve out the next few months left in the current sittings of the House before it is dissolved in preparations for the April 2021 general elections.
The last by-election to be held under the current term of Parliament was in March 2019 for the Fa’asaleleaga No. 2 electoral constituency.
