The unofficial count of the ballots that have been cast in the Faleata No. 4 by-election shows the former M.P. Ale Vena Ale has reclaimed the seat after collecting 867 votes. 

The preliminary results show the Fa'atuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) endorsed candidate taking the lead by a mile against his sole opponent and independent candidate Ulu Bismarck Crawley. Ulu managed to bag 396 ballots at the unofficial count.

The Faleata No. 4 constituency has 2,253 registered voters and at the close of the voting booth, more than 600 voters didn't exercise their right to vote. The preliminary results do not include 146 pre-polling ballots cast on Wednesday which will be counted in the final count on Saturday. 

Even if all the pre-polling votes go in favour of Ulu, he will still fall short by more than 200 votes from Ale, which would mean automatically returning the former M.P. to the Legislative Assembly to continue the remainder of the current parliamentary term. 

Ale resigned and walked away from the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) towards the end of last year because he no longer trusted the leadership of the party. 

The former M.P. at that time was vocal about his views on the former ruling party in the Parliament and outside which eventually led to his decision to resign to become an independent. But his decision to resign and become an independent was later taken to the Supreme Court by the Speaker, who was of the view that his resignation as an H.R.P.P. member meant that the seat was vacant and a by-election had to be held. When the matter went to court this year, all the parties agreed that a by-election will be conduct for the constituency.