Ousted president pursues French Polynesia elections (political chaos in French Pacific territory)

National Business Review (New Zealand) ^ | 29-Oct-2004 | by Stuart McMillan

[jocon307]

"[I]f two men claim to be the president of French Polynesia and if the main opposition party refuses to concede that it has lost power then a major constitutional crisis is in the making."

Let us hope John "French" Kerry doesn't get any ideas from his Pacific cousins.

[AuntB]

"Locals hate the French, and adore Americans. Gotta love them for that at least."

I was there in '85. Everyone hated the French...some things are universal. It humors me when the French talk about Americans and our "emperialism" when they engage in real emperialism in Tahiti, etc. At that time they were forcing the natives to install electric power in their homes....the Tahitians kept saying "WHY"? They don't need heat and they prefer to cook outdoors. But the French know best..........

[shaggy eel]

,,, let's hope they're not going down this guy's road.

[shaggy eel]

It wouldn't be much hassle to put patients to NZ, Australia, or even the States for treatment. Well, even Fiji has a fully-equipped hospital and yet, France opts to fly them to Paris? Incredible.

,,, France takes the more advanced cases to Paris for cancer treatment. The nuclear testing programme has its legacies.

[NZerFromHK]

It's going to be Dear Helen's ultimate nightmare. Should she support her new soulmate Jacques (and thus Gaston Flosse) or her old pal Oscar Tameru? Tameru spent a long period of time in NZ and know Winston, David Lange, Helen herself and even Tariana Turia very well. In fact, Tariana has released a statement supportive of Tameru and the 20,000 "hikoi" of his supporters in Papeete a fortnight ago.