By Hayley Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
PAPEETE, Tahiti –- More than 8,000 Tahitians marched through torrential rain on Saturday to protest a political deal that effectively turned the leader of the smallest party in Parliament into the President of French Polynesia.
The Tahitian government has long been plagued with instability. In the last four years, there have been seven governments and five different presidents. While Tahiti has its own assembly, president, and budget, it is still a semi-autonomous territory of France, and receives subsidies, education, and security from the French government.
Before the election, Gaston Tong Sang, of the Tatou Aia party, was favored to win the presidency after his coalition won 27 of the 57 seats in Parliament, only two short of an absolute majority. Gaston Flosse, leader of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira (People’s Rally) party, was sworn into office last month after winning only 10 seats.
Flosse was elected after making a deal with his political foe, Oscar Temaru, who was also the leader of Parliament’s second largest party, Union for Democracy, which won 20 seats. The coalition combined enough seats in Parliament to win Flosse the election. On Friday, Temaru was made Speaker of the French Assembly.”The last one in the race is running the land” Tong Sang said.
Following Friday’s political deal, Flosse’s coalition immediately dropped from 30 to 28.“Tomorrow they will only be 20,” hinted an official to Tong Sang’s eight-party coalition, referring to a possible motion of no confidence against Flosse’s new government directly following the municipal elections.
News of the Flosse- Temaru political coalition was ill-received in Paris where the ruling party, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), condemned the deal as “against nature.” Although once supportive of Flosse’s party, the UMP announced it would cut all ties to protest the election.
Saturday’s demonstration was also aimed at mobilizing Tahitians to vote against Flosse’s party candidates in the upcoming municipal elections which are scheduled for March 9 and March 16.
For more information, please see:
The Sydney Morning Herald — Political deal angers French Polynesians — 3 March 2008
Tahiti Presse — Some 8,500 Tong Sang supporters march to protest Flosse’s election — 3 March 2008
Pacific Magazine — French Polynesia’s Flosse Unveils Coalition Government Line-up — 3 March 2008
Pacific Magazine — Close To 10,000 In Post-Election Pape-ete March — 3 March 2008
Radio New Zealand International — Nearly 9,000 march in French Polynesia against political deals — 3 March 2008
