Government

parliamentary republic

System	parliamentary republic
Capital	Apia
Head of state	TUIMALEALI’IFANO Va’aletoa Sualauvi II (since 21 July 2017)
Head of government	Prime Minister LA’AULIALEMALIETOA La’auli Leuatea Schmidt (since 16 September 2025)
Legislature	legislature name: Legislative Assembly (Fono); legislative structure: unicameral; number of seats: 51 (all directly elected); electoral system: plurality/majority; scope of elections: full renewal; term in office: 5 years; most recent election date: 8/29/2025; parties elected and seats per party: Faatuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) (32); Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) (22), Sāmoa Uniting Party (SUP) (3), Independents (4); percentage of women in chamber: 9.8%; expected date of next election: August 2030
Judiciary	highest court(s): Court of Appeal (consists of the chief justice and 2 Supreme Court judges and meets once or twice a year); Supreme Court (consists of the chief justice and several judges); judge selection and term of office: chief justice appointed by the chief of state on the advice of the prime minister; other Supreme Court judges appointed by the Judicial Service Commission, a 3-member body chaired by the chief justice and includes the attorney general and an appointee of the Minister of Justice; judges normally serve until retirement at age 68; subordinate courts: District Court; Magistrates’ Courts; Land and Titles Courts; village chief councils
Constitution	history: several previous (pre-independence); latest 1 January 1962; amendment process: proposed as an act by the Legislative Assembly; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly membership in the third reading, provided at least 90 days have elapsed since the second reading, and assent of the chief of state; passage of amendments affecting constitutional articles on customary land or constitutional amendment procedures also requires at least two-thirds majority approval in a referendum
Independence	1 January 1962 (from New Zealand-administered UN trusteeship)
Administrative divisions	11 districts; A’ana, Aiga-i-le-Tai, Atua, Fa’asaleleaga, Gaga’emauga, Gagaifomauga, Palauli, Satupa’itea, Tuamasaga, Va’a-o-Fonoti, Vaisigano

Departments

TODO. Ministries and authoritative sites, to be filled out.

Hierarchy

How power is wired. The diagram below carries the generic template; refine the boxes and edges to match the current regime.

        flowchart TD
  HoS["Head of State"]
  HoG["Head of Government"]
  Leg["Legislature"]
  Jud["Judiciary"]
  Cab["Cabinet"]
  Foreign["Foreign Affairs"]
  Interior["Interior"]
  Defense["Defense"]
  Finance["Finance"]
  Justice["Justice"]

  HoS --> HoG
  HoG --> Cab
  Cab --> Foreign
  Cab --> Interior
  Cab --> Defense
  Cab --> Finance
  Cab --> Justice
  HoS -.- Leg
  HoS -.- Jud
    

Resources

Public-facing portals the people use day to day. Operators monitor these for policy changes, official notices, and civil-registry data.

Resource	Site	Purpose
National portal	to be filled	One-stop government services for citizens.
Tax / revenue	to be filled	Income tax, VAT, customs.
Civil registry	to be filled	Births, deaths, marriages, national ID.
Immigration	to be filled	Visas, residency, naturalisation.
Health	to be filled	Public health, advisories, vaccination records.
Education	to be filled	Curricula, school directories, transcripts.
Statistics	to be filled	Census, economic indicators, opendata.
Police / emergency	to be filled	Reporting, missing persons, emergency contacts.