The Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party is leading with massive margins in the Safata No.1 and Vaisigano No.2 by-elections after the preliminary results were released on Friday by the Office of the Electoral Commission.

The preliminary results are from eight booths in Safata No.1 and the five in Vaisigano No.2 and do not include pre-polling ballots.

In Safata No.1, there is an interesting race between Tunumafono Clare Tai Tin and Tafafunai Saolotoga Fuimaono Mimio as they are separated by just one vote. It is also looking like a woman member of parliament will once again be elected from the constituency.

After the preliminary count, Tunumafono Clare Tai Tin has 545 votes, Tafafunai Saolotoga Fuimaono Mimio has 544, Tafafunai Aialii Anapu has 355, Luailepou Tikilapilesa Misi of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) has 254, and Tuigamala Vaisilika Tuigamala has 114 votes.

Safata No.1 headed to the by-election after the Electoral Court found former member of parliament, Seve Tei Fuimaono, found guilty of six corrupt practices related to the election and HRPP MP, Leaana Ronnie Posini, was found guilty of 14 allegations related to corruption.

The court declared the election of Seve void and called for a by-election.

In Vaisigano No.2, former independent MP and now a FAST member, Motuopuaa Henney Papalii, has a massive lead. After the results from the five polling booths, he has 681 votes while HRPP’s Valasi Tafito Selesele 172.

The official count is set to start early Saturday morning, and if results remain unchanged, FAST is looking to take both seats in parliament. If that is the case, FAST will end up with 32 seats, HRPP will remain with 14, the Samoa Uniting Party members with three and two independents.

The results will also determine if extra seats need to be added to fulfil the women’s quota as required under the law.