Tahiti stays on tenterhooks

French Polynesia's future remains uncertain following a by-election that has left no clear ruling majority.

The Union for Democracy, headed by Oscar Temaru, holds 28 seats and Tahoeraa Huiraatira, led by incumbent President Gaston Flosse, has 27.

Alliance for a New Democracy has secured the remaining two seats, giving it the balance of power.

Temaru told the Herald yesterday there would be discussions with the two alliance politicians in the next couple of days to see what Government could be formed.

His coalition of parties, which formed the Union for Democracy, needed one more seat to gain power.

He said one of the politicians, the Mayor of Arue, had previously sided with him but was not so sure about the other, a part-Tahitian, part-French woman who had the backing of many French people.

Temaru said the byelection in the most populated Windward Islands of Tahiti and Moorea had shown a huge swing in support of him. At the election last May there had been only a 400-vote majority in favour of the union, compared with about 6000 this time. "It is a big victory."

However, Flosse held 17 of the 20 seats that were not up for re-election.

"That is why we wanted a dissolution and a fresh general election ... we would have clearly won ... they knew that."

Instead the sprawling country of five archipelagos, with a population of 266,000, is set for more instability.

In the past six months Temaru supporters have occupied the presidential grounds in Papeete and expressed their frustrations in street marches, strikes, and blockades of Government offices

Temaru said the mood in French Polynesia was shifting towards a political change yet the next general election could be up to five years away.

Flosse, an ally of French President Jacques Chirac, has ruled for almost 20 years amid accusations of self-serving policies and corruption.

He has accused Temaru of being anti-French and pursuing independence from France, which would leave the country impoverished.