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POLITICS

French Polynesia chooses pro-independence leader

Independence advocate Moetai Brotherson was elected president of France's Pacific territory of French Polynesia on Friday.

Moetai Brotherson
French Polynesia's Member of Parliament Moetai Brotherson (L) is congratulated by a member of his party after Brotherson was elected president of France's Pacific territory of French Polynesia in Papeete on May 12, 2023. Photo by: Mike LEYRAL / AFP

The choice had been expected after pro-independence forces won elections and took control of the assembly last month, paving the way for a possible referendum on the archipelagos’ status.

Brotherson was elected with 38 votes in the territory’s 57-seat assembly, while outgoing head Edouard Fritch, who favours autonomy within the French Republic, garnered 16 votes.

Last month’s election results will allow pro-independence forces to push the French authorities to negotiate a referendum on the status of the territory, which is located northeast of New Zealand and home to about 280,000 people.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who is responsible for the overseas territories, has admitted that Polynesians “voted for change”.

The result is a blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, which seeks to project France as a major power in the Pacific region due to its strategic overseas territories.

In a speech delivered without notes following his election, Brotherson assured France of his “respect” while calling on the population not to “fear independence”, which will “never be imposed” on Polynesians.

He said he hoped for a referendum on self-determination “in 10 to 15 years”.

The new leader of the French Polynesian assembly, Antony Geros, is in more of a hurry to gain independence, however.

In his own inaugural speech, he argued that France had “used its authority to make and unmake majorities according to its own interests, to the point of instrumentalising the elected representatives”.

French Polynesia is one of several overseas territories that are collectively home to nearly 3 million people.

Despite French Polynesia’s inclusion on the UN list of non-self-governing territories – areas considered in violation of the international right to self-determination – France has always refused to allow a referendum on the territory, which includes Tahiti and Bora-Bora.

Independence has been repeatedly rejected in referendums in its other major Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

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POLITICS

New Caledonia airport to reopen Monday, curfew reduced: authorities

New Caledonia's main international airport will reopen from Monday after being shut last month during a spate of deadly unrest, the high commission in the French Pacific territory said, adding a curfew would also be reduced.

New Caledonia airport to reopen Monday, curfew reduced: authorities

The commission said Sunday that it had “decided to reopen the airport during the day” and to “push back to 8:00 pm (from 6:00 pm) the start of the curfew as of Monday”.

The measures had been introduced after violence broke out on May 13 over a controversial voting reform that would have allowed long-term residents to participate in local polls.

The archipelago’s Indigenous Kanaks feared the move would dilute their vote, putting hopes for eventually winning independence definitively out of reach.

READ ALSO: Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Barricades, skirmishes with the police and looting left nine dead and hundreds injured, and inflicted hundreds of millions of euros in damage.

The full resumption of flights at Tontouta airport was made possible by the reopening of an expressway linking it to the capital Noumea that had been blocked by demonstrators, the commission said.

Previously the airport was only handling a small number of flights with special exemptions.

Meanwhile, the curfew, which runs until 6:00 am, was reduced “in light of the improvement in the situation and in order to facilitate the gradual return to normal life”, the commission added.

French President Emmanuel Macron had announced on Wednesday that the voting reform that touched off the unrest would be “suspended” in light of snap parliamentary polls.

Instead he aimed to “give full voice to local dialogue and the restoration of order”, he told reporters.

Although approved by both France’s National Assembly and Senate, the reform had been waiting on a constitutional congress of both houses to become part of the basic law.

Caledonian pro-independence movements had already considered reform dead given Macron’s call for snap elections.

“This should be a time for rebuilding peace and social ties,” the Kanak Liberation Party (Palika) said Wednesday before the announcement.

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