Philippe Gomès (born 27 October 1958) is a New Caledonian politician and, from 5 June 2009 to 11 March 2011,

President of the Government of New Caledonia The president of the Government of New Caledonia is a political position in the Government of New Caledonia formed in 1999, after the Nouméa Accord was signed in 1998. New Caledonia has a collegial government with 11 members elected by Congr ...

, an overseas territory of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the

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

. He served as a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 2008 until 2022.

Biography

Gomès was born in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. He was appointed by the

Congress of New Caledonia The Congress of New Caledonia (), a "territorial congress" (''congrès territorial'' or ''congrès du territoire''), is the legislature of New Caledonia. The congress is headquartered at 1 Boulevard Vauban in downtown Noumea. Local media in Ne ...

after the provincial election held on 10 May 2009. He is backed by a wide coalition of the four main loyalists (i.e. anti-independence) parties that control 36 of the 54 seats in the Congress, now political allies after having fought each other during the campaign :

The Rally–UMP The Rally (; until 2004 Rally for Caledonia in the Republic, ; from 2004 to 2014 Rally–UMP) is a conservative political party in New Caledonia. The Rally is a loyalist party, supportive of the French status of the region and opposed to the inde ...

Caledonia Together Caledonia Together () is a political party in New Caledonia. The party was established on 14 October 2008 as a split from Future Together led by Philippe Gomès. The party is centrist and opposed to independence. Future Together, a centrist pa ...

(Gomès' party),

Future Together Future Together (, ) 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 New Caledonians of all ethn ...

and

Movement for Diversity The Movement for Diversity (, LMD) is a right-wing political party in New Caledonia, strongly supportive of the French status of the region; it is close to the French Union for a Popular Movement. History Jacques Lafleur, the former leader of ...

. In the Government, 7 of the 11 members come from those pro-France parties.Xiong Tong, "Philippe Gomes elected as New Caledonia president", ''China View'', 2009-06-05
/ref> A former member of RPCR (older name of The Rally–UMP and historical anti-independence party in

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

), Gomès left it in 2004 to found with others dissidents (like

Marie-Noëlle Thémereau Marie-Noëlle Thémereau (born 1950) is a French New Caledonian politician who served as the former president of the government of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean about 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia. She h ...

or Harold Martin) the

(''Avenir ensemble'') party that defeated RPCR in the provincial election on 9 May 2004. Then, Philippe Gomès became president of the South Province, by far the most economically developed and most urbanized part of New Caledonia. After a conflict between him and some members of the party, including Harold Martin or

Didier Leroux __NOTOC__ Didier is a French masculine given name and surname common throughout the Romance languages. It comes from the Ancient Roman name Didius. During the 5th century AD, with the Christianisation of ancient pagan names, it became associated ...

, he entered again in dissent, leaving

to create his own movement called

(''Calédonie ensemble''). He was also mayor of

La Foa La Foa () is a commune in the South Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Although the provincial seat of the South Province is in Nouméa, La Foa was made the chief town of the administrative subdivis ...

, a rural commune on the West Coast of Grande Terre (the main island of the archipelago), from 1989 to 2008. In this village, he notably created an annual

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

, the first and the only one in

. Its first president was the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Jean-Pierre Jeunet (; born 3 September 1953) is a French film director and screenwriter. His films combine fantasy, realism, and science fiction to create idealized realities or to give relevance to mundane situations. Jeunet debuted as a direc ...

, and among his successors have included

Claude Pinoteau Claude Pinoteau (; 25 May 1925 – 5 October 2012) was a French film director and scriptwriter. Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts de Seine, Île-de-France (region), Île-de-France, France. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, aged 87. (in French) ...

Jane Campion Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''The Piano'' (1993) and ''The Power of the Dog (film), The Power of the Dog'' (2021), for ...

Claude Brasseur Claude Brasseur (; 15 June 1936 – 22 December 2020) was a French actor. Life and career Claude Brasseur was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine as Claude Pierre Espinasse, the son of actor Pierre Brasseur and actress Odette Joyeux. He was the godson of E ...

Patrice Leconte Patrice Leconte (; born 12 November 1947) is a French film director, screenwriter and comic strip writer. Life and career Leconte grew up in Tours, and began making little amateur films at 15. He went to Paris in 1967 and studied at Institut des ...

. Since March 2011, he served in the New Caledonia Government, as minister for Transfers of civil security, civil and commercial rules, and of civil status. On 17 June 2012, he was elected as member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

in the 2nd constituency of

. He joined the Union of Democrats and Independents group in the National Assembly, chaired by former minister

Jean-Louis Borloo Jean-Louis Marie Borloo (; born 7 April 1951) is a French politician who served as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2012 to 2014. He also was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment in 2007 and Minister of ...

. In the 2022 legislative election, Gomes lost his seat in the

for

New Caledonia's 2nd constituency The 2nd constituency of New Caledonia is a French legislative constituency in New Caledonia. The second constituency was created in a redistricting in 1978. Between 1978 and a new redistricting in 1986, the second constituency represented the wes ...

Nicolas Metzdorf Nicolas Metzdorf (born 20 May 1988) is a French politician from Générations NC who has represented the 2nd constituency of New Caledonia in the National Assembly from 2022 to 2024. See also * List of deputies of the 16th National Assembly ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Philippe 1958 births Living people Politicians from Algiers Presidents of the Government of New Caledonia People from South Province, New Caledonia Members of the Congress of New Caledonia The Rally (New Caledonia) politicians Mayors of places in New Caledonia New Caledonian people of French descent French people of Algerian descent Pieds-noirs French people of Portuguese descent New Caledonian people of Algerian descent Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Union of Democrats and Independents politicians Members of Parliament for New Caledonia