Constitutional Reserved-Seats Quota for Women in Parliament

In 2013, Samoa amended its Constitution to guarantee that women hold at least 10% of seats in the Legislative Assembly. If fewer than the required number of women win constituency seats outright, additional seats are created and allocated to the unsuccessful women candidates who received the most votes, up to the 10% threshold; the mechanism is administered by the Office of the Electoral Commissioner.

The mechanism was applied for the first time in the March 2016 general election. Only four women were elected outright, so a fifth seat was created and awarded to meet the constitutional minimum, expanding the Legislative Assembly and lifting women's representation to the mandated 10% level, as documented by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and IPU Parline records. Despite meeting its own legal threshold at every election since 2016, Samoa's women's representation remains among the lowest in the world: IPU rankings placed Samoa 156th out of around 180 parliaments as of January 2024, tied with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Local commentators, including in the Samoa Observer, have argued the 10% floor is now too low and called for it to be raised toward 25%, illustrating how a reserved-seats mechanism can guarantee a floor without closing the gap toward gender parity.