Bitter squabble ends French Polynesia poll deal

PARIS - The crisis in French Polynesia seems set to revive after six days of talks yielded a tentative deal that broke down acrimoniously just two days later.

The two main protagonists, anti-independence leader Gaston Flosse and pro-independence Oscar Temaru, were heading back to Tahiti yesterday, with each side bitterly accusing the other of sabotage and double dealing.

Flosse, Temaru and other political chiefs had been called to Paris by Overseas Affairs Minister Brigitte Girardin in a bid to resolve a political crisis stemming from the May 23 elections to the Polynesian Assembly.

In October, France's State Council, the country's highest administrative court, scrapped the results of the May elections in the islands of Tahiti and Moorea, which account for 37 out of the 57 seats, citing polling irregularities.

Talks over the weekend in Paris yielded a joint call for calm and an agreement that there should be new elections. But there was no agreement on when the vote would take place.

That question, a statement said, was to be discussed yesterday (local time) provided pro-independence demonstrators quit the presidential office. Pro-independence deputies left the building in response to appeals broadcast by Temaru, but a militant hard core continued the occupation.

Flosse's Tahoeraa Party had bailiffs sent to the building to certify it was still under occupation. Flosse then dropped the bombshell, announcing in Paris that he was doing a walkout.

"Our patience has run out. We're going back to Papeete," Flosse said.

Temaru branded Flosse's departure as stage-managed and a bid to "set a trap".

One of the pro-independence figures at the talks, Philippe Schyle, said, "The dice were loaded from the start. They tried to get us to submit to electoral reforms" that would satisfy Flosse.

"The masks have slipped and we can now see the complicity between the Government and Mr Flosse," said his colleague, Nicole Bouteau, referring to the close ties between the 73-year-old Polynesian political veteran and French President Jacques Chirac.

Sources said Temaru wanted new elections to be held for the entire Assembly. Flosse was initially opposed to this but then agreed to it.

He attached two conditions, though. He wanted the ballot to take place straight away in the contested Ile du Vent constituency, with the elections for the full Assembly 18 months later.

In order to hold new territory-wide elections, the French Parliament would have to modify Polynesia's new autonomy law, which took effect only in March.