Constituencies in a Hybrid State: An Examination of the Shift from 'Territorial' to 'Electoral' Constituencies in Sāmoa.

In 2019, Sāmoa's parliament amended the Constitution to redefine the constituencies of Sāmoa. At least some aspects of these amendments are unconstitutional and should be declared void. This article traces the nature of Sāmoa's constituencies over time, from the arrangements made prior to independence to the changes implemented for the 2021 election. It shows how Sāmoa's constituencies originally reflected a hybrid electoral system that combined Indigenous customary institutions with the state institutions of Westminster-style parliamentary government. However, with the 2019 amendments, the definition of constituencies has moved away from membership based on family and village connections to residence in a particular place, diminishing hybridity and centralizing authority in state institutions. The result is a shift, not only in the physical boundaries of constituencies, but in the constitutional understandings of membership and belonging that underpin political citizenship in Sāmoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]