French Polynesia, along with New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, is one of three colonies in the Pacific ruled by Paris. About 78 percent of the country’s population of 266,000 is of Polynesian descent. Temaru is a long-time leader of the movement for independence from French rule, and against France’s nuclear testing in the territory.

In May 2004, the party led by Temaru, Tavini Huiraatira, narrowly won general elections in French Polynesia in a result that surprised political commentators. His administration was ousted four months later by Gaston Flosse in a no-confidence vote in the Territorial Assembly. Flosse, a former long-term president, is an ally of French president Jacques Chirac and supports limited autonomy, rather than independence, from France. Working people responded with a protest of 20,000 in the capital. They occupied the presidential palace, circulated a protest petition, and blockaded government buildings for months. Flosse, however, was re-elected president October 23 in a rump meeting of the assembly.

Temaru refused to concede his post and called for new elections. Amid continuing protests, the French government intervened. Paris backed a call by Flosse to annul the results in the Windward Islands, the largest electoral constituency, and call a by-election for the 37 unseated members of the assembly, which has a total of 57 seats.

Leading up to the by-election, Temaru supporters continued to occupy the presidential palace, blockade some of the government buildings, and organize protests backing the UPLD coalition. The day before the vote, carloads of UPLD supporters wove their way round Tahiti’s 114-kilometer (71 miles) road waving blue and white flags. Supporters of Gaston Flosse’s party, Tahoeraa Huiraatira, were also in the streets. They also organized several motorcades pushing the slogan “No future without France.”

In the end, the UPLD made an electoral comeback, outpolling Flosse’s list by more than 6,000 votes compared to a narrow win by 291 votes last year. At first, the Territorial Assembly was evenly split between the two camps until a member of the “pro-autonomy” Alliance for a New Democracy (ADN) switched to support Temaru’s coalition. Five days later the UPLD deputies and their allies ousted Flosse’s interim government in a no-confidence vote. Shouts of “taui” erupted from the packed public gallery. Hundreds watching the session on a big screen outside cheered and sang.

Flosse did not run for president. Instead his party ran Gaston Tong Sang, mayor of Bora Bora and former minister of small and medium business in Flosse’s government. Temaru now governs with a slim majority of just one seat, having also regained the support of a representative for the Marquesas Islands who had switched to Flosse last October.

After re-election, Temaru reiterated his stance that independence from France was “not on the agenda” at this time. “The matter can only be debated if the population wishes so,” he said. Temaru also cited the Nouméa Accord of the French territory of New Caledonia as a possible model. This agreement, signed in 1998 between the French government and pro-independence forces in New Caledonia, called for a gradual transfer of power from Paris to local authorities, with a referendum on independence to be held in 15 to 20 years.

Temaru said his main priorities would be restoring the local economy and infrastructure, developing tourism, increasing agricultural production, and improving job training and education. He also called for trilingual education—in French, Tahitian and English—saying the islands’ young people must regain “their history, their culture, and, of course, their mother tongue.” In addition, he announced plans to audit government finances, saying the previous regime had misappropriated or squandered funds amounting to some 100 billion French Pacific francs (US$1.13 billion).

Flosse’s campaign focused on counterposing autonomy to independence, an argument that appeals to many in light of the millions of dollars of subsidies that French Polynesia receives from Paris. He also promised a number of social measures, such as free public transportation, free school meals for junior school pupils, and cheaper electricity, as well as tax cuts for trade and corporations.

Throughout these months, the French government has kept a close eye on its Pacific territory and events have reverberated in national politics in France. The French Socialist Party and the Greens sent delegations of members of parliament to back the UPLD campaign.

Leading up to last year’s poll, Paris had threatened to cut off funding to the territory if Temaru was elected. After the by-election, French overseas minister Brigitte Girardin simply urged all political parties to “display a sense of responsibility” so that the country would not “fall into instability.” Meanwhile, additional French security forces, dispatched to the territory before last year’s poll, have been instructed to remain in Papeete to prevent any “post-election escalation.”  
 
 
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