2023-05-01 13:09:56
The independence list won the triangular second round of the territorial elections which opposed it to two autonomist lists, with 44.29% of the vote, according to the provisional results published by the High Commission, Sunday April 30 (Monday 1is May in mainland France), in Polynesia. Turnout, traditionally high for this type of election, is up compared to 2018, reaching 69.4%. The outgoing president, Edouard Fritch (38.5%), mired in his communication errors during the Covid epidemic, and weighed down by the creation of a new tax a year before the election, will leave the sumptuous Polynesian presidency after nine years in power. The other autonomist list was led by dissidents from his party and won 17.21% of the vote.
For Oscar Temaru (78), who created his party in 1977, this victory is the most beautiful in the territorial elections. It does not mean, however, that his ideal of independence is shared by a majority of Polynesians. The campaign of the six opposition parties to the government revolved a lot around the “dégagisme” and the rejuvenation of the political class. Edouard Fritch (71) was already a minister in 1984, in the first government of autonomous Polynesia. Allied with 42 mayors (out of 48 municipalities), he presented a list of elderly candidates. Some of his running mates were, like him, from almost every government for four decades. Facing them, the Tavini presented younger candidates, such as the deputies Moetai Brotherson (51 years old), Steve Chailloux (37 years old) and Tematai Le Gayic (22 years old), the youngest of the National Assembly.
Distanced by almost five points in the first round, Edouard Fritch attempted an astonishing alliance with Gaston Flosse (91). The two men were very close for three decades and governed together until Mr. Flosse’s first sentence for ineligibility in 2014 and Edouard Fritch took power. Gaston Flosse then became very virulent towards his former son-in-law. Cantor of autonomy, he even became sovereignist in 2020. Still ineligible in 2023, he however pushed his party to present a list, which narrowly missed qualifying in the second round. The reconciliation of the two men, with tears in their eyes, two days after the first round, did not convince: their programs were opposed on many points, in particular on the statutory future.
A radical separatist at the head of the assembly
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