French Polynesia’s New Pro-Independence Leadership

Territorial elections were held in French Polynesia on April 16 and 30, during which more than 210,000 voters elected representatives to the 57 seats in the Assembly of French Polynesia.

For the first time since 2004, the pro-independence party, the Tavini Huira’atira, won the triangular second round, accounting for 44.32 percent of the votes cast. In second place was the Tapura Huira’atira list (38.53 percent), led by outgoing President Edouard Fritch, a historic figure of the anti-independence autonomist movement. A third list, A here ia Porinetia (meaning “I love Polynesia”), also autonomist, obtained 17.16 percent of the votes.

The voting system in French Polynesia grants a large majority bonus – 19 seats – to the winning list. The independence party will therefore govern with a comfortable majority of 38 seats out of 57 in the Assembly.

The assembly met on May 12 to elect a new president. As expected, pro-independence leader Moetai Brotherson, previously a member of the French National Assembly, was elected president. A rising figure in the independence movement, and the son-in-law of the historical leader Oscar Temaru, he is widely expected to be the leading political personality for the next five years in Tahiti.

The political transition in French Polynesia will have national and international consequences. Several months after a controversial referendum in New Caledonia, the legitimacy of French sovereignty in the Pacific Ocean is once again being questioned.