11 Jul 2007

French Polynesian assembly president critical of own majority

2:45 pm on 11 July 2007

The president of the French Polynesian assembly, Edouard Fritch, has labelled the ruling majority of which he is a member as being sick and called for political arrangements to be revisited.

Mr Fritch says his Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party has to perform gymnastics to attain a 29-vote majority needed to pass local laws.

He has taken issue with the coalition partner's reluctance to give proxy votes to the Tahoeraa as it is on a knife's edge to have a majority.

Mr Fritch has also accused President Gaston Tong Sang of not giving Mr Fritch's Tahoeraa faction enough consideration within the coalition.

He says once Mr Tong Sang is back from Paris, he wants to draw up a fresh deals on how the majority is to work, or else his group would draw their own conclusions.