Tahitian vote follows year of bickering

A critical byelection which will decide who rules French Polynesia will be held on Monday for the most populated seats of Tahiti and Moorea.

It is expected to attract a strong turnout following the political upheavals since the last general election in May 2004. Then, pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru gained a fragile hold in a surprise result when he ousted long-serving President Gaston Flosse, longtime ally of French President Jacques Chirac. Flosse later toppled Temaru through votes of no-confidence. A stand-off followed where both claimed to be President, each citing electoral irregularities.

Temaru's supporters occupied the lavish presidential headquarters in Papeete, blockaded Government offices and led protest marches.

In October, France's State Council decided fresh elections should be held in the Windward Islands constituency of Tahiti and Moorea, which account for 37 out of the 57 seats, supporting Flosse's claims of irregular behaviour by the Opposition. A poll shows more than half the eligible voters are undecided.

A spokesman for Temaru, Manuel Terai, said his party was quietly confident of retaining the seats in a coalition of other parties. "It looks pretty good but you must never sell the coat, the fur of the bear, before you kill the animal."

In May, Temaru's Tavini Huiraatira party, with other smaller parties in the Union for Democracy, had polled ahead of Flosse's Tahoeraa Huiraatira party by about 500 votes. Terai said they hoped to strengthen their hold as now "people have no more fear to express their feelings and opinions".

Samoa's Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Maleilegaoi, has said he hoped the byelection would be free and fair. Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum he said the forum had offered to send a representative to Papeete as an observer, but France turned the offer down.