Except for two faipule races which are being contested in court, Chief Election Officer Tuaolo M. Fruean has released the final “official” results of the Nov. 4 general election, confirming that American Samoa will have a new Delegate to Congress come Jan. 3, 2015.

Under local election law, a seven-day grace period is required to allow any challenges to the outcome of the election before the results are made official. The seven-day period closed at 4p.m. this week Tuesday.

In a public statement issued after 4:30p.m. Tuesday, Tuaolo released the final results, saying that the deadline for contesting results of the general election has expired and that election complaints have been filed in court for local House of Representatives District Nos. 9 and 14.  (See separate story on details of the complaints).

Except for these two districts, Tuaolo made “official” the results of the Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, the other local House districts, and the veto-override referendum.

Besides the tally spreadsheet which shows the total number of votes for Delegate and the local House races as well as the vote-override referendum, Tuaolo also released the spreadsheet for all 44 polling stations for the races and the veto override.

The spreadsheet tally for the contested faipule races are marked “contested”.

CONGRESSIONAL RACE

The official results show that 13- term incumbent Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin was unseated by long time Republican challenger Aumua Amata, who is currently in Washington D.C. for orientation of new members of Congress.

According to the official tally, votes counted in the Delegate race totaled 10,246 with Amata getting 4306 (42%); Faleomavaega 3157 (30.8%); Togiola Tulafono 1,130 (11%); Mapu J. Jamias 652 (6.47%); Meleagi Suitonu-Chapman 229 (2.2%); Tuika Tuika 201 (2%); Rosie Fualaau Tago Lancaster 268 (2.6%); Mark Ude 143 (1.4%); and Tua’au Kereti Matautia Jr. 160 (1.6%). These were also the unofficial results released on the evening of Nov. 4.

Amata will be sworn into office on Jan. 3, 2015 along with the new Congress at the nation’s capital.

LOCAL HOUSE RACE

Based on the official results,  four incumbents — Reps. I’aulualo Fa’afetai, Taotasi Archie Soliai, Fagasoaia F.A. Lealaitafea,  and Atualevao Gafatasi Afalava — were unseated in the general election. Atualevao lost by one vote.

The next battle for incumbents and faipule-elect, is to choose the new Speaker of the House for the new 34th Legislature. This will be decided after lawmakers are sworn into office at 12-noon on Jan. 3, 2015.

However, Samoa News should point out that Alataua District — which is where House Speaker Savali Talavou Ale regained his seat in the general election — is being challenged in court.

Unconfirmed reports state that the House Speaker, who has served consecutive two-year terms as lawmaker since he first entered the House in 1981, is again seeking the leadership post. And on Monday, he hosted a gathering for incumbents and new members — but not all were in attendance.

There has been no word yet from within the Fono as to whether someone will be going up against Savali for the Speaker’s post, and of course, the result of the challenge in court is awaited.

VETO OVERRIDE

Based on the official results, the veto override referendum has been rejected by an overwhelming number of voters. Of the 10,196 ballots counted, 7,526 (of 73.8%) voted “no” while 2,670 (or 26.2%) voted “yes”.

The first time a veto override referendum was rejected was in 2008, but only by a narrow margin of 22 votes — with a "yes" total of 6,137 and a "no" vote of 6,159.

Since the general election, Samoa News has received word from several voters saying that they voted against the referendum because there was no guarantee that giving full authority to the Fono to override a veto by the governor would not be abused by lawmakers.

Other voters said that they feel safer having the Interior Department Secretary have the final say on bills over which the governor and the Fono disagree.