Samoan general election, 1979

General elections were held in Samoa on 24 February 1979. Voting was restricted to Matai and citizens of European origin ("individual voters"), with the Matai electing 45 MPs and Europeans two. Although all candidates ran as independents, an opposition bloc had emerged following the 1976 election of Tufuga Efi as Prime Minister in Parliament. Those identified as critics of Efi (the Va'ai Faction, which later became the Human Rights Protection Party) lost the elections and he remained Prime Minister.