PAPEETE (AFP) — The former president of French Polynesia, pro-Paris veteran Gaston Flosse, won a new term Saturday as leader of the overseas south Pacific territory after the pro-independence camp backed him.
The 76-year-old Flosse, who has already served three times as president of the territory, has long advocated wide-ranging autonomy for French Polynesia instead of independence.
Although his party placed third in elections earlier this month, Flosse pulled out a 29-27 victory over favourite Gaston Tong Sang thanks to an 11th-hour alliance with former pro-independence president Oscar Temaru.
Temaru withdrew his candidacy at the opening of the parliamentary session on Saturday, lending the support of his party's 20 lawmakers to the 10 deputies from Flosse's party, paving the way for his election.
Tong Sang had the backing of 27 lawmakers. One lawmaker cast a blank vote.
Flosse now has five days to form a government, which is expected to include independence supporters.
Political instability has meant frequent changes of government in French Polynesia, whose largest and best-known island is Tahiti.
A member of the French Senate of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party since 1998, Flosse served as head of the territory from 1984 to 1987, 1991 to 2004 and then from October 2004 to February 2005.
Flosse has twice been investigated for corruption -- he was cleared of charges on appeal in one case, and was placed under formal investigation in 2003 for employing fictitious employees in another, but no charges were filed.
France annexed the South Pacific archipelago of 115 islands, now home to about 265,000 people, in the late 19th century.
Calls for independence have gathered steam since France's controversial nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in the 1990s.
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