27 Feb 2012

French Polynesia's Tahoeraa announces candidates for French assembly

11:17 am on 27 February 2012

French Polynesia's opposition Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party has nominated its candidates for the territory's three seats in the election of a new French national assembly.

They are Edouard Fritch, Jonas Tahuaitu and Jean-Paul Tuaiva.

French Polynesia has been given an extra seat from this year, taking into account population shifts.

The two incumbents, Michel Buillard and Bruno Sandras, were elected as Tahoeraa candidates but have since fallen out with the party and left it.

Mr Fritch, who has been a veteran assembly member in Tahiti, is the son-in-law of the Tahoeraa founder and member of the French Senate, Gaston Flosse.

The French legislative elections will be in June - a month after the second round of the French presidential election.