Fierce contest for power as Samoa prepares for general election

‘Different mood’ in Samoa as a former deputy challenges Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi’s 23-year rule.

A fierce contest for power is playing out in the small Polynesian nation of Samoa ahead of its next general election on April 9. Election outcomes in the central Pacific Island nation of about 199,000 people, located northeast of Fiji, have, for more than 20 years, been predictable.  With little opposition, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has led the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) to victory at every five-year vote since 1998. The party itself has been in government for nearly 40 years. Malielegaoi, now 75 years old, has held power for 23 years and is one of the longest-serving leaders in the region and the world.