Temaru is a long-time leader of the movement for independence of the island nation from French rule and against France’s nuclear testing in the territory.

French Polynesia is comprised of 118 South Pacific islands that cover an area the size of Europe. The largest is Tahiti, home to two-thirds of the territory’s population of 266,000. About 78 percent of the population is of Polynesian descent. Along with New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia is one of three colonies ruled by Paris in the Pacific.

In May, the party led by Temaru, Tavini Huiraatira, won general elections for the local Territorial Assembly. Temaru was elected president, replacing Gaston Flosse, a close ally of French president Jacques Chirac. Flosse had held the position for most of the past 20 years.

Flosse immediately challenged the vote. On October 9 he won a no-confidence vote against the new government in the assembly. Then, on October 23, with only 29 of the 57 elected members participating, the assembly re-elected Flosse president.

Since then, a stand-off has occurred, with both leaders claiming the presidency. Both have sent delegations to Paris to call on the French government to intervene. On November 15, France’s highest court, the Council of State, backed a demand by Flosse and struck out the election results in the largest constituency, the Windward Islands (Iles du Vent), citing “voting irregularities.” With 37 assembly members now unseated, France’s minister for overseas has called both parties to a meeting in Paris, seeking to broker a solution in the interests of French imperialism.

Temaru says that new elections should be held throughout French Polynesia. Working people have continued to protest to back this call. On November 10, the Tahitian trade union O Oe To Oe Rima called a strike. About 2,000 workers stayed home, and several hundred marched in the center of Papeete. They were demanding a raise in the minimum wage, which had been pledged by Temaru’s party in the election campaign.

Supporters of the new government have also blockaded entry to key government buildings, including the ministry of finance, the central post office, land affairs ministry, government printers, and information technology services. On November 20, the Speaker of the Assembly announced that 42,890 people from throughout the islands of the territory—about 28 percent of the population—have signed a petition calling for dissolution of the assembly to allow fresh elections.

Meanwhile, Temaru and his cabinet, backed by supporters, have refused to leave the presidential palace. Flosse and his cabinet have been forced to work from nearby buildings, but have cut phone and power lines to the palace.

The call for new elections has received the backing of the head of the Tahitian Protestant Maohi church, Father Taaronui Maraea, and the Tahitian royal Pomare family. In France, the Socialist, Green, and Communist parties have backed the Temaru government.

The victory of Temaru’s party in the May poll came as a surprise to many political commentators. The election had been triggered by Flosse, who asked Chirac to dissolve the assembly and call a snap poll shortly after France granted a new autonomy status for the territory, making French Polynesia an “overseas country within the French republic.” Flosse has promoted limited autonomy as an alternative to independence.

Prior to the election, Flosse presided over the adoption of new election rules. According to these regulations, any party winning the most votes in each of the six constituencies receives a bonus of 30 percent more seats. With his party the largest in the assembly, Flosse expected to get the lion’s share of seats. Temaru’s party, however, Tavini Huiraatira, contesting the election as part of the Union for Democracy coalition, won 27 seats in the 57-seat assembly. Two other seat holders—one a former minister in Flosse’s government, and the other from a pro-autonomy party—decided to support Temaru, giving him 29 seats, a razor-thin majority over Flosse’s 28.

The surprise result mirrored election results in New Caledonia on May 9. There, the anti-independence party Rally for New Caledonia within the French Republic (RPCR) lost its long-time control of the key southern province and of the country’s Congress. RPCR’s leader of 25 years, Jacques Lafleur, resigned from all leadership posts.

Leading up to the poll in French Polynesia, Paris threatened to cut off funding to the territory if Temaru was elected, and sent an additional 120 police to the islands. A week before the elections, a march called by opposition parties to protest against the Flosse government drew several thousand people.

Temaru said independence is not on the agenda in the near future. “The result of the elections for a new assembly was not a referendum for or against independence, but instead was a protest against a style of government that favored some voters over others,” he said shortly after being elected. “The question of political independence will only be posed in full agreement with France and when French Polynesia’s political, economic, social, and financial situation allows it to happen. In any case, only Polynesians will decide on their country’s future when the time comes. This question could be posed in 10, 15, or 20 years.”

Despite the measure of autonomy now granted to French Polynesia, Paris retains control of key matters such as foreign relations, defense, immigration, and TV and radio broadcasting. Its economy, though relatively developed in comparison to other Pacific Island countries, is dependent on millions of dollars of subsidies from France, a fact used by figures like Flosse to argue against severing ties with the colonial power. The payments include $180 million annually as compensation for the massive drop in income when France’s nuclear testing program was ended in 1996.

Temaru had pledged to raise the living standards of working people, including increasing the minimum wage from 110,000 French Pacific francs (US$1,209) per month to 150,000 francs (US$1,648), and to encourage the use of the indigenous Maohi language. In its five months in office, his government had initiated an audit into the suspected misuse of government income by former president Flosse, as well as an investigation into the health effects of the 38 years of nuclear testing on workers and their families near the test sites.

Despite the ending of nuclear testing, French Polynesia remains of military importance to France. Its two naval bases at Tahiti and Hao Atoll in the territory are part of Paris’s ability to project its military strength in a world of growing inter-imperialist competition.

The French rulers have recently been taking steps to expand their influence in the Pacific directly and through their colonies. Last year the French government doubled the amount it earmarks annually for its “South Pacific Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperation Fund,” supposed to be for the development of Pacific Island countries. Chirac has looked toward closer integration of the three Pacific colonies, including French Polynesia joining New Caledonia as an observer in the regional group of states, the Pacific Islands Forum. French Polynesia was eventually admitted last August.

Last year, Chirac paid a celebratory visit to France’s South Pacific colonies, wrapping up the tour by hosting a meeting of regional governments in Papeete. It was intended to demonstrate French imperialist weight in the region. Chirac’s luster, however, was tarnished somewhat by a strike and demonstration by opponents of French rule in New Caledonia, and protests on his arrival in French Polynesia.

Temaru, then mayor of Faa’a, French Polynesia’s biggest town, refused to join the official welcoming ceremonies. He joined other supporters of independence, including unionists and former workers in the nuclear industry, in a protest against Chirac’s visit.  
 
 
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