General elections were held in Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

 on 24 February 1979. Voting was restricted to Matai

Fa'amatai

Fa'amatai is the chiefly system of Samoa, central to the organization of Samoan society.It is the traditional indigenous form of governance in the Samoa Islands, comprising American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa...

 and citizens of European origin ("individual voters"), with the Matai electing 45 MPs and Europeans two. Although all candidates ran as independents, an opposition bloc had emerged following the 1976 election of Tufuga Efi as Prime Minister in Parliament. Those identified as critics of Efi (the Va'ai

Va'ai Kolone

Va'ai Kolone was a Prime Minister of Samoa and a founder of the Human Rights Protection Party in Samoa. He served as Prime Minister twice, first between 13 April and 18 September 1982, and then from 30 December 1985 until 8 April 1988...

 Faction, which later became the Human Rights Protection Party

Human Rights Protection Party

The Human Rights Protection Party is a Samoan political party. It has been the dominant party in Samoan politics since 1982.The party was co-founded in May 1979 by Va'ai Kolone and Tofilau Eti Alesana in opposition to the government of Tupuola Efi...

) lost the elections and he remained Prime Minister.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Tupuola Efi Supporting Group	2,465	24.3	24
Va'ai Faction	2,160	21.4	23
Other independents	5,489	54.3	0
Invalid/blank votes	95
Total	10,209	100	47
Source: Nohlen et al