Samoa Constitution Amendment Act 2013

In June 2013, the Legislative Assembly of Samoa unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Act 2013 that provides for a minimum of 10 percent of seats (equivalent of five seats) for women Members of Parliament. .

The system proposes a “floating” five reserved seats for women. If no woman is elected during the elections, the amendment is activated and five seats are added to the Assembly. This will mean a Samoan parliament with a total of 54 seats. If one woman is elected then four seats are added and parliament has 53 seats, and so on. When extra seats are added, they are filled by women who have already run in open constituencies. The unsuccessful women candidates who receive the highest percentage of votes in the election will fill the requisite number of reserved seats.