Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Chief TUIMALEALIIFANO Va'aletoa Sualauvi II 
• Head of Government: Prime Minister FIAME Naomi Mata'afa 
• Assembly: Samoa has a unicameral Legislative Assembly (Fono) with 49 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The Chief is elected by parliament.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the Legislative Assembly (Fono), 35 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and 14 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms. There are seven multi-member constituencies with two seats each. One of these is reserved for part-and non-Samoans. Electors cast two votes in these districts. An amendment was passed to the electoral law in 2013 reserving 5 seats in Parliament for female candidates.