4 Nov 2004

American Samoa to go back to polls in two weeks time

8:43 pm on 4 November 2004

Voters in American Samoa will be heading back to the polls in two weeks time to elect a governor and lieutenant governor.

None of the candidates in this week's general elections got more than the 50 per cent of votes cast.

The election will be between incumbent governor Togiola Tulafono and Afoa Moega Lutu.

In the congressional election, Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin won re-election for an unprecedented ninth term as American Samoa's non voting delegate.

He says his workload in the US meant he couldn't spend as much time campaigning as his opponent.

"It's kind of difficult when my opponent has been here for 6 months campaigning and I'm stuck in Washington trying to do the work for the people. I just was unable to come in and make the visits simply because of the work requirements and the fact that we did not adjourn until around the eighth or ninth of October which gave me only about a month to do any really hard campaigning if you will."

Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin's opponent Aumua Amata Coleman had a strong showing in what was her fifth bid for Congress.

She finished the race with her best performance ever, winning 45 percent of the votes.