TAHITI: Pro-independence party does well

Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 11:00

Tahiti's pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru was re-elected mayor of the working-class city of Faa'a, near Tahiti's international airport, with an overwhelming majority in the municipal election held March 10-11.

Temaru's election is a big boost for the independence movement, said Thea Hershon, deputy president of Temaru's Tavini Huiraatira party. "Despite the huge advantage the other candidate had over Temaru, he won again by a large margin", she told Radio Australia.

In other results, the incumbent mayor of Papeete did not win during the first-round of the election and must now run again during the second round on March 18.

"This was quite surprising because he had the support of the president [of French Polynesia, Gaston Flosse]", Hershon said. "But people are unhappy the way the city of Papeete has been developed. It has been developed only for the tourists and not for the benefit of the citizens."

From GLW issue 441