The sole Independent candidate, Tuala Ponifasio, who won his seat in last Friday's election, may end up the 'Kingmaker' in a country that has chiefly status and rank at the apex of its social structure.
Samoa was one of the first countries in the world (it was first in the Pacific) to gain political independence from colonisation in the early 1960's. It was formerly known as German Samoa (under Germany's colonial administration) then Western Samoa under New Zealand. The eastern islands had been a territory of the United States and remain so today under the name American Samoa.
Samoans in the western islands could never accept being ruled by outsiders and throughout the periods of German and New Zealand colonial rule, the Samoans under the leadership of their chiefs, made this known through protest and civil disobedience.
One of the more dramatic episodes in Samoa's History occurred on a Saturday in 1929 when a mass protest in the town of Apia ended in the fatal shooting of a high chief and leader of the Mau protest movement.
The Mau movement adopted the slogan 'Samoa mo Samoa,' (Samoa for the Samoans), a call to arms that led to the United Nations granting the small island nation of barely 100,000 citizens full nationhood.
The first election for the first parliament of the Independent State of Samoa was anything but democratic. Only matai (people who hold chiefly titles) could run as candidates, and the suffrage was also limited to matai. It meant that more than half of Samoa's adult population did not have the right to vote; only a very few women held matai titles in the early 1960's, so the majority of women were left out of the political process.
There were provisions in the Electoral Act for Samoans of 'European' heritage (Samoa's Chinese population was included in this category), to have two seats in the parliament. The candidates and voters for these 'European' seats were exempt from the matai requirement.
The first twenty years of Samoa's parliament saw political affiliations along family and traditional lineage connections. The first three prime ministers had direct lineage to Samoa's highest ranking chiefly titles.
(The leader of the new political party FAST, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, is the daughter of Samoa's first prime minister Mata'afa Fiame Mulinu'u II).
In the early 1980's, political affiliations took on a more western form when the first political party was formed and Samoa's public servants staged a strike that was critical of the government and the political process.
The first political party, the Human Rights Protection Party has been in power for nearly forty years, and in that time, Samoa has had only two prime ministers.
In some ways, HRPP has been progressive in its social agenda. Universal suffrage was introduced in the 1990's for all adults 21 years and older; more women were then given the right to vote.
But on the other hand, the HRPP government has been widely criticised for meddling in traditional politics and local village affairs.
There has also been criticism of the pace at which the HRPP government drove public works and infrastructural development funded by loans from China thereby leaving a legacy of debt to Samoa's future generations.
There have been other political parties over the years, such as the Samoa National Democratic Party (SNDP) and Tautua Samoa. But so pervasive and popular was HRPP, that no other political party returned enough members to form a recognised opposition over the last 3 terms of parliament.
The success of the new Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) political party in last week's election has echoes of Samoans rejecting authorities (like those of their colonial masters) that meddle in their affairs.
During the last term of parliament, three bills were introduced and passed into law that changed the make-up and roles of the Lands and Titles Court, and a piece of legislation restricting the number of Sa'o titles (high chiefs) a family can confer.
FAST was formed by former senior members of the HRPP government who were against the bills. Leader and potentially next and first woman prime minister of Samoa, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa is a founding member of HRPP and former deputy leader and deputy prime minister to Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.
The result of this election and a confirmation of the next government of the Independent State of Samoa will not be known for at least another month.
One of the features of Samoa's elections is the roll-call of petitions to court; candidates accusing each other of bribery.
