Samoan election

[Estrella]

While the previous ruling party was bad, they did win 55% of the vote and that equaling the same number as a party who got 41% is ludicrous.

Tbf Samoan elections aren't exactly 100% free and fair. It's the typical goodies-and-clientelism* stuff rather than anything clearly undemocratic, but still.

And if a party loses the popular vote but wins government in a Western country with FPTP, nobody tries to prevent them from forming government. It's just that Samoa has a smaller electorate and more potential for freak outcomes like this.

* the latter is especially important; one of the reasons why HRPP has the ideology (if you can call it that) it has and why it has been able to stay in power so long is that Samoa is an extremely conservative country in the literal sense. There's deference to local bigwigs who have a lot of power in getting the vote out.

[Estrella]

While the previous ruling party was bad, they did win 55% of the vote and that equaling the same number as a party who got 41% is ludicrous.

Without getting too off topic, I wonder what the worst offending elections are. Wisconsin in 2018 and South Africa in 1948 come to mind.

With elections that weren't absurd gerrymanders (as seems to be the case in Samoa; the district borders are literally just straight lines), the answer is probably Canada 1979. Liberals won the popular vote by 4.2 points, but PCs won 22 more seats and almost got a majority.

[Estrella]

While the previous ruling party was bad, they did win 55% of the vote and that equaling the same number as a party who got 41% is ludicrous.

Without getting too off topic, I wonder what the worst offending elections are. Wisconsin in 2018 and South Africa in 1948 come to mind.

With elections that weren't absurd gerrymanders (as seems to be the case in Samoa; the district borders are literally just straight lines), the answer is probably Canada 1979. Liberals won the popular vote by 4.2 points, but PCs won 22 more seats and almost got a majority.

Why would simple straight lines be an absurd gerrymander in a Samoan context? Especialy since it seems that no districts cross itūmālō boundaries and given the geography, straight lines are simply creating a bunch of districts running from the mountains to the ocean...

Exactly. I reread that sentence after I posted it and thought "this sounds like the opposite of what I wanted to say"