French Polynesia’s new President Moetai Brotherson is in Paris for wide-ranging talks with the French government and the organisers of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

His visit involves meetings with a range of ministers and officials to continue cooperation arrangements initiated by his predecessor.

“I’m not here to come begging,” Brotherson said, adding that he wanted to ensure that France was helping to decrease dependence on French financial transfers by developing French Polynesia as a country with its own resources.

He told the news site Outremers360 that he wants any process of self-determination to be arbitrated by the United Nations.

Restating a timeframe of up to 15 years until a referendum on independence, Brotherson said that it was not utopian.

“[French] Polynesia is as big as Europe, and in terms of population, it is [the size of] Montpellier”, he said, referring to the southern French city with its 300,000 inhabitants.

He said time needed to be taken to prepare, and by seeking independence “we will be able to take decisions with full responsibility”.

By contrast, he said the preceding pro-autonomy governments had the reflex to say that in the end, if they did not make the right decisions, they would turn to “mother” France.

Support for seabed mining ban
Brotherson met the State Secretary for the Sea Herve Berville who reconfirmed the French government’s support for a seabed mining ban.

Berville also reconfirmed that such a ban would also apply to French Polynesian waters.

Brotherson again expressed his unwavering support for next year’s Olympic surfing competition to be held in Tahiti.

After flooding in the area last month, French Polynesian Sports Minister Nahema Temarii cast doubt on Tahiti being able to go ahead with the competition.

However, the site manager of the Paris Olympics organising committee, as well as Brotherson, said the event would go ahead as planned.

After becoming President last month, Brotherson will this week officially relinquish his seat in the French National Assembly, to which he was re-elected last year when his pro-independence Tavini Huira’atira for the first time won all three available Paris seats.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A pro-independence party has decisively won elections in French Polynesia, marking a historic shift in one of France’s Pacific territories.

Veteran politician Oscar Temaru’s Tavini Huira’atira party has secured an outright majority, putting future relations with France on the negotiating table along with its ambitions in the Pacific region.

SBS News reportage with some footage from TNTV, NC La 1ere and TV5MONDE.

Thanks to producers Marcus Megalokonomos and Francesca De Nuccio.

Stefan Armbruster is SBS World News’ Brisbane-based Pacific correspondent. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Mā’ohi Nui’s blue wave of the pro-independence Tavini Huir’atira has won its bet — to be back in the helm of the country alone with this convincing victory.

With such a decisive result, the 57 parliamentary seats in the Territorial Assembly will be distributed as follow: 38 seats (including the majority premium of 19 seats) will be allocated to Oscar Temaru’s Tavini while the autonomist alliance of Tapura-Amuitahira’a will collect 16 seats and the last 3 seats go to A here ia Porinetia.

The second and final round had a participation of nearly 70 percent, higher than the 2018 elections which was around 67 percent. Tavini Huira’atira led its closest challenger by more than 8000 votes in the provisional results.

This win is a political tour de force with noticeable achievements that need to be mentioned.

Firstly, the Tavini Huira’atira has run alone in a voting system intentionally designed for an autonomist victory, and even the last-minute alliance between sworn enemies — the outgoing President Édouard Fritch and former President Gaston Flosse did not sway the electorate this time.

This comfortable majority of 38 seats will put an end to the political “nomadism” that saw previous parliamentarians cross the floor to join the opposition, triggering endless votes of no confidence.

This was the case in 2004 when the Tavini Huira’atira was in power with a coalition partner.

Opposition scaremongering
Secondly, Tavini Huira’atira has communicated during its campaign that the binary political argument instigated by the main opposing party that independence equals poverty while autonomy means more finance from France is pure scaremongering.

By staying away from that argument, Tavini Huira’atira was able to concentrate on its main message — to give back to the Mā’ohi people ownership of their land and the natural resources.

Thirdly, Tavini Huira’atira has well understood that this election was about coming first, whether by 1 vote or 1000 votes and organising relentless electoral campaigns throughout Mā’ohi Nui has paid dividends.

Once more Oscar Temaru, despite his age (78), has spearheaded those political meetings and rallies like he did during those antinuclear protests some 50 years ago.

Along with those political engagements, putting Moetai Brotherson forward as the new president has ensured the transition to a younger generation to run the country, but most of all a political figure with no condemnation, a quality upon which the Tavini has run its campaign.

In his final speech from his town hall of Faa’a, Oscar Temaru thanked all the trusted constituents who have shown their support for the past 50 years.

He also said that the good old days were over, signaling to the French administration that the dialogue would be under new terms as equal partners.

Many non-voters
There were more than 210,000 registered voters but only 144,000 actual votes which still shows a high rate of the population did not vote.

Le grand perdant de cette élection est donc le Tapura. Après presque deux mandats, Edouard Fritch retrouvera les bancs de l’Assemblée de la Polynésie. Le groupe est réduit de plus de la moitié. La stratégie de réconciliation avec Gaston… Tahiti Polynesie https://t.co/q4s14GilkM pic.twitter.com/2RCcNvAfox

— polynesiela1ere (@Polynesiela1ere) May 2, 2023

Where did it go wrong for the autonomist parties?

As expected, a dejected Tapura-Amuitahira’a party and an ex-president-to-be Édouard Fritch said that this defeat was the price that the autonomist platform was paying for not being united and de facto handing the victory to the independence party.

He acknowledged himself that his alliance with Flosse could have given him around 42 percent of the ballots, but in the end the strategy did not work and they only got 38.5 percent.

Fritch bitterly acknowledged that the population — who he insists are a majority of autonomists — would carry the image of an independent country because Tavini would be in power at the Territorial Assembly.

He said that the future of this country was not independence; it needed to remain with their trusted partner within the French Republic.

His disappointment is without doubt aimed at the other autonomist party of A Here ia Porinetia, which decided to run alone and rejected any alliance with Fritch and Flosse.

Opened the door
Tavini can thank the two leaders of A here ia Porinetia, Nicole Sanquer and Nuihau Laurey, for opening the door to victory and running the country.

The new challenges for Fritch and Flosse will be to rebuild the autonomist platform and be an opposition party that will defeat the independence party in the next elections because Mā’ohi Nui is not ready to be independent.

A mea culpa for unpopular measures and actions that the outgoing government had carried out, especially during the covid-19 pandemic, did not feature as reasons for this defeat.

On the contrary, Fritch doubled down, insisting that the independence party had “lied” to the people regarding their ultimate objective — “get rid of France”.

As for Édouard Fritch’s ally, Gaston Flosse, when interviewed regarding the autonomist defeat, he branded the soon-to-be president Moetai Brotherson “a liar” along with Oscar Temaru, and the next president of the Assembly Antony Geros.

The situation prompted the interviewer to cut short the interview.

The newly created and alternative autonomist platform, A here ia Porinetia, has acknowledged their voters totalled around 25,000 and they will have three representatives in the Territorial Assembly.

Constructive, watchful opposition
They want to be a constructive and watchful opposition that will hold the new local government accountable. Nuihau Laurey has rejected an offer made by Moetai Brotherson to work in his government.

French Overseas Minister Gerald Darmanin has congratulated Oscar Temaru and Moetai Brotherson for their victory and stressed that “the Polynesians have voted for change and the French government is acknowledging this democratic choice”.

Here are the likely next steps following this election:

May 1 is Labour Day in Ma’ohi Nui but the official results of the election will be presented in a round press by the representative of the High Commissioner that will spell out the names of those who will sit in the Assembly from all three parties.

On the May 11 all the Assembly representatives will take their seats as members of Parliament. They will first elect a new president of the Territorial Assembly who is most likely to be Antony Geros, the mayor of Paea, a district that voted overwhelmingly blue.

The autonomist party might present a candidate from their ranks to stand against Antony Geros but this is very unlikely to happen as the opposition party do not have the numbers.

Following the election of the Assembly president (Speaker in the Westminster system), the next most important election to take place will be that of the new President of the territory.

Good for democracy
In this presidential election, Édouard Fritch will likely present himself as the candidate to stand against Moetai Brotherson as it is good for democracy and decorum to have two opposing candidates.

The new President will be elected and will already have formed his new government. He will present the new ministers of his local administration to the public.

It is customary to present the new cabinet either at the actual Presidential Palace in Tarahoi or wherever the new president decides to take residence.

In 2004, Oscar Temaru refused to take residence in the Presidential Palace which he described as an “opulent house made for a dictator” and it was not the house of the people.

Moetai Brotherson has already given some names for his new government and is keen to keep the equality of gender parity but hinted at more women. He also mentioned being interested in taking on the Ministry of New Technologies.

Other likely posts:

• Eliane Tevahitua will be Vice-President and who could inherit the Culture and Heritage ministry;
• Vannina Ateo, who was general secretary for Tavini, will inherit the Civil Service ministry;
• Rony Teriipaia, an academic and expert in the Tahitian language,  will be Education Minister; and
• Jordy Chan, who has an engineering background, will be Minister for Big Works and Equipment.

A lot of work awaits this new administration, but the Tavini team seems ready to run the country alone.

Ena Manuireva is an Aotearoa New Zealand-based Tahitian doctoral candidate at Auckland University of Technology and a commentator on French politics in Ma’ohi Nui and the Pacific. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Polynesia’s pro-independence Tavini Huira’atira party has won the election for a new 57-member Territorial Assembly, paving the way for Moetai Brotherson to become president.

Unofficial final results show the party led by its founder Oscar Temaru won 44.3 percent, thereby repeating its win in the first round of voting two weeks ago.

The pro-autonomy coalition list formed 12 days ago between the ruling Tapura Huira’atira and the opposition Amuitahiraa came second with 38.5 percent while another autonomist party A Here Ia Porinetia secured 17.2 percent.

As the list winning most votes, the Tavini gets 19 of the 57 seats as a bonus, securing a total of 38 seats.

The Tapura-led list won 16 seats and A Here Ia Porinetia three.

The Tavini victory ends the 10-year dominance of the Assembly by the Tapura.

The new Assembly, which has been elected for a five-year term, is expected to meet in the next two weeks to elect a new assembly president and then a territorial President.

Majority of women
The Tavini candidate for the presidency Moetai Brotherson said he is likely to appoint a majority of women when he forms his government after confirming that Eliane Tevahitua will be the vice-president.

Temaru topped the Tavini list but decided before the election not to seek another term as president.

The Tapura leader and outgoing president Édouard Fritch said despite the Tavini victory, a majority of French Polynesians favour autonomy.

The Amuitahiraa leader, Gaston Flosse, said his coalition, which joined the Tapura for the second round, did not “lose” the election and denounced Temaru as a liar.

During the campaign, Fritch and Flosse warned of chaos should the Tavini come first.

Brotherson said the election results show people were not fooled, knowing that independence would not happen next week.

As president, Brotherson said he would represent all the people and seek a dialogue with France as a partner on the basis of mutual respect.

France refuses over UN
French Polynesia has been on the UN decolonisation list since 2013 but France has to date refused to acknowledge the UN decision and refuses to engage in a UN supervised process.

Observers said the Tapura lost support over displeasure with the government’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, Fritch and former vice-president Tearii Alpha were both fined for flouting covid rules they put in place.

Alpha, who was vice-president at the time, invited 300 people, including all cabinet members, to his wedding at the height of restrictions.

In what was a surprise last year, the Tavini candidates beat the Tapura candidates to win all three of French Polynesia’s seats in the French National Assembly.

The last pro-independence politician to hold the presidency was Temaru who held the post for a fifth time between 2011 and 2013.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Voting has started in French Polynesia in the second round to elect a new Territorial Assembly for a five-year term.

About 200,000 voters can choose among three lists of candidates vying for the assembly’s 57 seats.

The lists of the pro-independence Tavini Huira’atira, which won the first round two weeks ago, and of the autonomist A Here Ia Porinetia are unchanged.

For today’s run-off round, the ruling Tapura Huira’atira changed its list by adding four candidates of the opposition Amuitahiraa, which had been eliminated in the first round.

The list winning most votes today will get a third of all seats as a bonus, which will give it an absolute majority.

The remaining two thirds of the seats will then be distributed according to the lists’ relative strength.

To promote gender parity the lists must alternate male and female candidates.

Closing times of the polling stations vary, but unofficial results are expected by the end of the day.

Publishing any result before all stations are closed is prohibited and can incur a fine of US$80,000.

The elected assembly representatives will meet in mid-May to elect a new president.

The three candidates are Tavini’s Moetai Brotherson, the incumbent Édouard Fritch and the first ever woman seeking the top job, Nicole Sanquer of A Here Ia Porinetia.

Activist dies in accident
Meanwhile, a leading activist of the pro-independence Tavini Huira’atira party and the anti-nuclear movement has died in an accident.

Media reports said Ralph Taaviri, who was an experienced hunter, disappeared in the Punaruu valley of Tahiti.

Searchers found his body at the bottom of a cliff and a helicopter was needed to recover it.

Taaviri was one of the co-founders of the environmental NGO Faatura te rahu a te Atua.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Politicians in French Polynesia have reacted with scorn over the ruling party’s hastily-convened electoral alliance with an opposition party, which has been eliminated from the territorial elections after failing to reach the 12.5 percent threshold.

Under the deal, President Édouard Fritch’s Tapura Huiraatira ceded four positions to Amuitahiraa on the list of candidates for next week’s run-off round.

Fritch warned of “chaos” should his party lose power to the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira, which won most votes in the first round a week ago.

The Tavini’s Moetai Brotherson, who wants to succeed Fritch in the top job, derided the arrangement, saying that Fritch and the Amuitahiraa leader Gaston Flosse were serving up the “same soup” by warning that white people would be chased away and independence would “usher in misery” if Tavini formed government.

Nuihau Laurey of A Here Ia Porinetia said while he also stood for continued autonomy, it was very hard to work with people who admitted that they had lied for 30 years, a reference to Fritch’s admission in 2018 that he had lied about the French weapons tests.

The Greens’ Jacky Bryant said that the hasty deal was serious as this way of doing politics contributed to voter apathy.

Coup for Fritch, Flosse?
He said Fritch and Flosse must “feel horror” if they believed they could be a uniting force, in particular since Flosse for years “vomited” over the Tapura.

Tauhiti Nena of Hau Māohi said it was a coup for Fritch and Flosse because if they managed to combine the two parties’ support from the first round, they would win.

In the first round of the territorial elections, Fritch’s Tapura party came second, winning 30 percent of the votes against Tavini’s 35 percent, with Amuitahiraa on 11 percent.

Flosse, who leads the party despite being ineligible because of corruption convictions, had been campaigning for French Polynesia becoming a sovereign state in association with France.

While in opposition, he claimed that Fritch was the worst president in the territory’s history.

In the last elections in 2018, the Tapura won two thirds of all seats.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Polynesia’s President Édouard Fritch has warned of “chaos”, should his party lose power to the pro-independence Tavini Huira’atira.

In last Sunday’s first round of the territorial elections, his Tapura Huira’atira came second, winning 30 percent of the votes against Tavini’s 35 percent.

Fritch’s Tapura has now joined forces with the opposition Amuitahiraa to have a joint list of candidates in next week’s run-off round.

Amuitahiraa failed to get enough support to qualify for the run-off but with the list merger, four of its candidates are allowed to stand again.

Fritch said French Polynesia is now in a “state of emergency” and could not be allowed to go towards independence.

The Amuitahiraa leader, Gaston Flosse, who runs the party despite being ineligible because of corruption convictions, has been campaigning for French Polynesia to become a sovereign state in association with France.

In the last elections in 2018, the Tapura won two thirds of all seats.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Campaigning for French Polynesia’s territorial elections has entered its final week.

Dressed in their parties’ respective colours, supporters of several parties held small rallies at the weekend market in the capital Pape’ete.

In two rounds of voting — on Sunday, April 16 and Sunday, April 30 — voters will elect a new 57-member assembly for a five-year term.

A total of seven lists are contesting the elections.

Under the proportional system introduced in 2011, a list needs the support of at least 12.5 percent of the votes to make it to the second round.

The list winning most votes in the second round will get a third of all seats as a bonus.

The remaining two thirds will then be distributed according to the lists’ relative strength.

Observers say only the ruling Tāpura Huira’atira and the pro-independence Tāvini Huira’atira stand a chance to win, given their presence across the island groups.

The last time French Polynesian voters went to the poll was in 2018.

President Édouard Fritch of the Tāpura Huira’atira has held the territory’s top job since 2014.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

En Polynésie française les élections territoriales se dérouleront les 16 et 30 avril 2023. 7 listes s’affronteront dans les huit section dans une circonscription électorale unique, divisée en huit sections. Qui sont les candidats et… https://t.co/gf6p6gGyj1 Tahiti Polynesie pic.twitter.com/GX4rGIXluQ

— polynesiela1ere (@Polynesiela1ere) April 8, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

About 3000 activists of French Polynesia’s pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira party met for six hours at the weekend with the executives insisting that they were “united’ after a recent upheaval over leadership.

The party also presented a “renewed” slate of 73 candidates for next month’s territorial elections which includes many new and younger faces in the lineup for the ballot on April 16 and 30.

Party chair Oscar Temaru got the ball rolling at Motu Ovini in Faa’a on Saturday. Appearing tired, he nevertheless remained on the stage for the entire congress along with the other party executives.

Antony Géros, the party’s number two, delivered a long-awaited speech after the recent party rift over the candidacy of Moetai Brotherson for the territorial presidency if the party wins the elections.

“It created a stir in the party because the Tony-Moetai divide started to be felt. And it was necessary to sort that out,” he explained after his speech.

Calling for “union”, “unity” and even respect for the new vision of “rising youth ” within the party, Géros ruled out any hint of a possible challenge to Brotherson’s candidacy.

A call for unity was also echoed in the two speeches by young deputies Tematai Le Gayic and Steve Chailloux in the French National Assembly, both once again impressive in their mastery of public speaking.

Tributes by Brotherson
The third and leading deputy Brotherson, emphasised respect and gave tributes to the “elders” of Tavini huiraatira.

“It’s something to walk in the footsteps of these giants,” he said, before also paying tribute to the man who was his chief-of-staff between 2011 and 2013 — Antony Géros.

There were obviously wounds to be patched up.

Temaru, five times a former president of French Polynesia, will lead the candidates list for section 3 (Faa’a, Punaauia).

Géros, mayor of Paea, will lead section 2 (Mahina, Hitia’a o te Ra, Taiarapu East and West, Teva i Uta, Papara and Paea).

Deputy Brotherson heads of the Leeward Islands section.

Section 1 (Papeete, Pirae, Arue, Moorea) will be led by the young deputy Temata’i Le Gayic.

Elections treated as ‘referendum’
RNZ Pacific reports that Temaru had said last December that he would treat the elections as if they would be an independence referendum.

He said that if his party won the election by a large margin, he questioned the point in holding a vote on independence from France.

Temaru said in the case of such a victory he would visit neighbouring Pacific countries and the United Nations to secure support for French Polynesia’s sovereignty.

He said Kosovo and Vanuatu became independent countries without a referendum.

In the last territorial election in 2018, the Tavini won less than 20 percent of the seats, but in the French National Assembly election in June, it secured all three of French Polynesia’s seats in the run-off round.

Brotherson has questioned Temaru’s stance, saying a local election should not be “mixed up” with a decolonisation process under the auspices of the United Nations.

In 2013, the UN General Assembly re-inscribed the French territory on its decolonisation list, but Paris has rejected the decision and keeps boycotting the annual decolonisation committee’s debate on French Polynesia.

While France has partially cooperated with the UN on the decolonisation of New Caledonia, the French government has ignored calls by the Tavini to invite the UN to assess the territory’s situation.

Republished from Tahiti-Infos and RNZ Pacific with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Polynesia’s President Édouard Fritch has described the election of three candidates of the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira party to the French National Assembly as “catastrophic”.

They won all three seats in a run-off against candidates of his ruling Tapura Huiraatira party, which holds two-thirds of all seats in French Polynesia’s Assembly.

He said French Polynesia was in the middle of an economic crisis, making him wonder how he could work when the three were part of the opposition to President Émmanuel Macron’s bloc.

Fritch said Tavini’s independence plan lacks a roadmap and only offers something nebulous.

He said after the first round of the election, all the opposition forces turned against the Tapura, accusing the unsuccessful candidates of the other parties of hypocrisy.

Fritch should resign, says Temaru
French Polynesia’s pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru said after last weekend’s election defeat of the government candidates that President Fritch should resign.

Temaru’s Tavini Huiraatira party won French Polynesia’s three seats in the French National Assembly, defeating the three candidates of the ruling Tapura Huiraatira.

Temaru said in view of this result it would only be fair if he quit.

He said the weekend victory was a “historic moment” that should resonate beyond French Polynesia and showed that the Māohi people wanted to be recognised for who they were.

Temaru said, however, that in the current situation French Polynesia had neither the institutions nor the means to solve its problems, but with independence, it would have them.

He said for French President Émmanuel Macron, the election result in Tahiti would be a “cold shower”.

He also said independence would not be achieved tomorrow but at a time when people wanted it.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Polynesia’s former president Gaston Flosse says he is in mourning because the French state has signed his political death by banning him from political office for five years for abusing public funds.

Flosse made the statement after France’s highest appeal court upheld a 2020 conviction over a long-running corrupt water supply arrangement in Pirae.

The ruling means the 90-year-old Flosse will not be able to contest this year’s French National Assembly elections and next year’s territorial election.

As former and current mayors of the town of Pirae, Flosse and now President Edouard Fritch made the town administration pay for the water use in the upmarket Erima neighbourhood, where Flosse lived.

Flosse had set up the scheme and Fritch allowed the abusive billing process to be continued until the practice was discovered in an audit in 2011.

When the two were convicted in Tahiti in 2020, Flosse was declared ineligible to hold office for five years.

Flosse questioned how the justice system worked, as he was singled out for punishment in a witch hunt while Fritch got away with just a fine.

Why was Fritch still eligible?
He said he wondered why Fritch was not made ineligible for two years because for years the scheme was run while Fritch was mayor.

Flosse’s lawyer said he could not understand the intellectual mechanism used to convict Flosse over the issue.

Losing the appeal in Paris last week, Flosse, will not be able to run for office until 2027, but he said would not give up and would continue with renewed vigour.

Only last week, he had announced his candidacy for one of the three French Polynesian seats in the French legislature.

In 2014, Flosse had been declared ineligible for five years after another corruption conviction and he had hoped to avert a renewed such sanction by taking the matter to Paris.

He was forced to relinquish the presidency to his deputy Fritch, but the two politicians have since fallen out.

Fritch has since been re-elected president and mayor of Pirae.

In French Polynesia, about a quarter of the ruling party’s assembly members have corruption convictions, including the assembly president Gaston Tong Sang.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

France’s highest court has upheld a corruption conviction of French Polynesia’s former president Gaston Flosse, effectively ending his political career.

It confirmed a 2020 appeal court ruling in Tahiti, which had deprived Flosse of his eligibility to hold public office for five years after finding him and the current president Edouard Fritch guilty of abusing public funds.

As former and current mayors of the town of Pirae, Flosse and Fritch made the town administration pay for the water supply to the upmarket Erima neighbourhood, where Flosse lived.

Flosse had set up the scheme and Fritch allowed the abusive billing process to be continued until the practice was discovered in an audit in 2011. In the appeal court in 2020, Flosse had been given a two-year suspended prison sentence.

However, Fritch was allowed to stay in office, but both have been fined and have been ordered to jointly settle the water bill of US$820,000.

When the case went to court, Fritch was a defendant and, as the mayor of Pirae, he was also a complainant because in the civil case running alongside, the town sought to be reimbursed.

In Paris, the court did not accept Flosse’s arguments that the statute of limitations applied, and it rejected a claim that Fritch could not both be a complainant and an accused.

Losing the appeal in Paris, Flosse, who is 90, will not be able to contest this year’s French National Assembly elections nor next year’s territorial election.

Only last week, he had announced his candidacy for one of the three French Polynesian seats in the French legislature.

In 2014, Flosse had been declared ineligible for five years after another corruption conviction and hoped to avert a renewed such sanction by taking the matter to Paris.

He was forced to relinquish the presidency to his deputy Fritch, but the two politicians have since fallen out.

Fritch has since been re-elected president and mayor of Pirae.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Polynesia’s Territorial Assembly has elected the ruling Tapura Huiraatira party’s Gaston Tong Sang as its new assembly president for a five-year term, reports RNZ Pacific.

He secured the support of the 38 Tapura members, who have two-thirds of all seats in the chamber.

His election comes two months after he was given a one-year suspended jail sentence and a fine of $US20,000 for abusing public funds.

The conviction related to his actions as president in the previous decade when he led the To Tatou Aia Party.

Gaston Tong Sang remains the mayor of Bora Bora.

The only other candidate in the election was the Tahoeraa Huiraatira’s Teura Iriti.

Iriti had been a member of the French Senate for several months until a French court annulled her election three years ago because a march by her party’s supporters to the polling station on election day was deemed to amount to undue pressure.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

French President Emmanuel Macron today began a three-day visit to New Caledonia – six months before the territory’s vote on independence from France, reports RNZ Pacific.

Macron is due to meet a wide range of political leaders and visit the northern province and the Loyalty Islands province.

President Macron … first French president to visit Ouvea since the 1988 hostage crisis. Image: PMC file

He is also due to become the first French president to visit Ouvea where 19 pro-independence Kanak protesters and three French soldiers were killed in a 1988 hostage crisis but there is opposition to him visiting the tomb of the slain Kanaks.

READ MORE: Pacific Islands Forum monitoring team in Tahiti for elections

As part of his programme, Macron will return the original deed with which France took possession of New Caledonia in 1853.

Macron is also due to address the Pacific Community whose headquarters is in Noumea.

-Partners-

Tomorrow, anti-independence supporters are expected to rally in Noumea to express their pride at being French.

The territorial self-determination referendum is due on November 4.

Tahiti elections
In Pape’ete, a team from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has arrived as observers for the second round of the Tahitian general election, reports RNZ Pacific.

The Forum secretariat said it was the first time the Forum had sent observers to the territory since French Polynesia became a full member in 2016.

Marshall Islands chief electoral commissioner Daniel Andrew and a PNG diplomat in Fiji Jacinta Tony-Barron make up the team which is supported by secretariat officials.

They will observe pre-polling, polling and counting for the second round which will take place on Sunday.

Forum Secretary-General Dame Meg Taylor said such exchanges were great opportunities for election officials across the region to share knowledge, experiences and best practice.

After last month’s first round of voting there have been claims of irregularities in Bora Bora, Makemo and Huahine.

A complaint has been lodged seeking to annul the Huahine election.

In 2004, the results in the Society Islands were annulled and fresh elections were then held in early 2005.

This article has been republished as part of the content sharing agreement between Radio New Zealand and the AUT Pacific Media Centre.

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