Early legislative elections were held in French Polynesia in early 2008. The first round was held on 27 January, with the second round on 10 February. The early elections was the first one to be conducted under a reformed electoral system.

Background

2007 political crisis

In July 2007, Former French Polynesian President Gaston Tong Sang was heavily criticized by

Gaston Flosse Gaston Flosse (born 24 June 1931) is a French politician who has been President of French Polynesia on five separate occasions. He is currently a member of the Senate of France and has been a French junior minister under Jacques Chirac. He receiv ...

, former president and the founder of Tong Sang's party, Tahoeraa Huiraatira. Flosse accused Tong Sang of caving in too easily to the demands of some of French Polynesia's minor coalition parties and ignoring the needs of Tahoeraa Huiraatira. Critics of Flosse asserted that the attack was merely a move by Flosse to regain the presidency, an accusation bolstered by revelations that Flosse had "secret talks" with Oscar Temaru, former president and a leading pro-independence politician who has been Flosse's long time political opponent in the past. According to reports, the talks were aimed at ousting Sang from office and setting up a unity platform between Flosse and Temaru's respective political parties. On 29 August 2007, a no confidence motion was introduced by Temaru's Union for Democracy (UPLD). The UPLD said that the no confidence motion against Tong Sang was based on the fact that he had only small support in the Assembly, thus losing his legitimacy to govern. Tong Sang's own Tahoeraa Huiraatira party asked him to resign ahead of the

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

against him. Tong Sang refused the calls from his party to step down. Tong Sang's government fell after the

was passed by French Polynesia's 57 member

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

on August 31. The motion Sang was passed by a majority 35 members of the Assembly, including some members of the governing Tahoera'a Huiraatira party. Tong Sang tried to save his government by offering Tahoer'a Huiraatira 7 ministerial posts. The deal was refused. The motion against Tong Sang was the first time that Oscar Temaru's Union for Democracy and Gaston Flosse's Tahoera'a Huiraatira party formed a de facto

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

to oust a sitting French Polynesian government.

Post-crisis

After his ousting from government, Gaston Tong Sang left Tahoera'a Huiraatira and founded a new party,

O Porinetia To Tatou Ai'a ‘O Pōrīnetia To Tātou ‘Ai‘a ("Polynesia, a Homeland for us all") was a French Polynesian anti-independence political party founded by Gaston Tong Sang Gaston Tong Sang (born August 7, 1949 in Bora Bora) is a French politician and is t ...

. The new party, from the onset, had 6 members in the Assembly, all former members of Tahoera'a Huiraatira. After Tong Sang's ouster, which was the third time a French Polynesian government was ousted from power via motions of no confidence since 2004, calls for electoral reform were heard. This culminated in an electoral reform package that was passed by France in November of the same year. After elections were announced, President of French Polynesia

Oscar Temaru Oscar Manutahi Temaru (born November 1, 1944) is a French politician. He has been President of French Polynesia (''président de la Polynésie française''), an overseas collectivity of France, on five occasions: in 2004, from 2005 to 2006, from ...

stated that he would prefer to have elections after the French municipal elections in March 2008.

Electoral system

The new system, approved in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on 26 November 2007, was meant to stabilise the chaotic French Polynesian political scene. Under the new system, a two-round election system was promulgated, and candidates from any political party require at least 12.5% of the vote to enter the second round of voting, and a general

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

of 5% was set."Textes sur la stabilité politique en Polynésie adoptés, vives critiques PS"
, AFP (Google.com), 23 November 2007 .

Results

Aftermath

According to reports, the two pro-autonomy/anti-independence factions were likely to agree to form the government for the next five years, but coalition talks broke down on 20 February 2008. The President of the Assembly was decided to be elected on 22 February 2008, with

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

in the Assembly to follow on 24 February 2008. In the election for the President of the Assembly, the incumbent Edouard Fritch was reelected with 36 votes while the pro-independence candidate Antony Géros received 21 votes; one of the 37 pro-autonomy MPs had therefore evidently voted for Géros.

References

External links

Pacific Magazine: Tong Sang Wins First Round Of French Polynesia VotingBBC News: Colonial ties dominate Polynesia polls
{{French Polynesian elections French Polynesia French Polynesia Elections in French Polynesia 2008 in French Polynesia French Polynesia French Polynesia