Marie-Noëlle Thémereau (born 1950) is a New Caledonian politician who served as the former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the government of

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, an overseas territory of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

about 1,210 km (750 mi) east of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. She has been a member of the loyalist (i.e. anti-independence) ''

Future Together Future Together (french: l'Avenir Ensemble, ) was a center-right political party in New Caledonia supporting the maintenance of political and administrative ties with France. The name ''l'Avenir Ensemble'' reflects the party's desire to unite Ne ...

'' party ("Avenir ensemble").

Biography

Marie-Noëlle Thémereau is the daughter of Claude Billet, a native of Corrèze and veteran of Free France who arrived in New Caledonia in 1949 as a worker on the ore carriers of Société Le Nickel (SLN) and general secretary from 1952 of the trade union of this company. He brought his family shortly after settling in and Marie-Noëlle was brought up in the capital city of

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, a ...

Civil servant

Holder of a master's degree in law specializing in labor and social security law from the University of Bordeaux IV, she first made a career in public administration. She thus stood out at the head of the Department of Studies, Legislation and Litigation, then that of the finances of the New Caledonia Territory from 1986 to 1988. She was mainly responsible for implementing the three Debré laws and developing vocational education. Separately, she then founded a real estate agency, the General Agency, in association with politician

Pierre Frogier Pierre Frogier (born 16 November 1950, Nouméa, New Caledonia) is a French politician, who was President of the Government of New Caledonia from 2001 to 2004. He has been French senator for New Caledonia since 2011, and was member of the Nati ...

that they continue to manage together although they have become adversaries in politics.

Politician

In 1989, she was elected to the congress of New Caledonia and to the South Province on the RPCR list, re-elected in 1995 and 1999. She held the position of second vice-president of the South Province from 1990 to 1999 and first vice-president president of the congress from 1999 to 2001, but in 2001 she resigned. In 2004, she led the list of her party "Avenir Ensemble" for the provincial elections. On 29 June 2004, Thémereau was elected to the presidency of the fifth government of New Caledonia resulting from the Nouméa Accords. As such she became head of the local government by the

Congress of New Caledonia The Congress of New Caledonia (french: Congrès de la Nouvelle-Calédonie), a "territorial congress" (''congrès territorial'' or ''congrès du territoire''), is the legislature of New Caledonia. It has 54 members who serve five-year terms, sel ...

in 2004 after defeating the long-time ruling loyalist party RPCR (Rally for Caledonia in the Republic) and its chief

Jacques Lafleur Jacques Lafleur (20 November 1932 – 4 December 2010) was a French politician born in Nouméa, New Caledonia, France. Lafleur was a leader of one of the two anti-independence parties in New Caledonia, the RPCR (Rally for Caledonia in the Repub ...

. Thémereau resigned on July 24, 2007 after giving advance warning that she would do so. She was succeeded in the Congress by

Pascal Vittori Pascal Vittori (born 16 August 1966, in Nouméa) is a New Caledonian politician. He is a member of the Future Together party, of which he serves as secretary. Since 2008, he has served as the New Centre's representative in New Caledonia. In 2 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Themereau, Marie-Noelle Living people 1950 births Presidents of the Government of New Caledonia Members of the Congress of New Caledonia Future Together politicians New Caledonian women in politics 21st-century French women politicians