By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 07 July 2025 – A significant number of 15,000 eligible voters remain unregistered when the registration of voters for the 29 August general elections closed last Friday.

The latest update from the Office of the Electoral Commission (EC) noted a total of some 15,000 potential voters who have not yet registered.

The EC’s office says a total of 117,225 voters should be registered but as of close time last Friday, the number has reached was 87.2% or 102,109 already registered for next months general election.

That leaves 12.8% or 15,000 unregistered voters.

The EC’s office said a total of 10,112 voters registered online with 10,000 of whom are from Samoa.

The next stage is reviewing the rolls with a final rolls expected at the end of the month.

For the past two years, OEC teams have been going around the country conducting awareness programs and registering voters under a new electronic system that required all votes to re-register and take updated biometrics. During the new registration process, over 10,000 voters deemed deceased were also removed.

Voters only rushed to register and caused overcrowding in the last few weeks pushing the office to work well into the early hours when the general election was moved eight months early after the governments budget was defeated and the parliament dissolved on 3 June 2025.

Unregistered voters face a fine of $2000 tala which OEC will charge them after the August general election.