24 Apr 2012

Tahiti party says voting guided by fear

12:45 pm on 24 April 2012

The small centrist French Polynesian party, No Oe E Te Nunaa, says the outcome of the first round of the French presidential election was determined by fear.

It says voters in Tahiti, which slides deeper into recession by the day, have punished those in power.

It says this was also shown in the high level of absenteeism, particularly in the stronghold of President Oscar Temaru, who it says has been punished for his inertia on all matters except his propaganda for his independence illusion.

Mr Temaru backed the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande who secured 11,000 fewer votes than the UMP candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.

The No Oe E Te Nunaa backed the French centrist, Francois Bayrou, who is yet to express his preference for any of the two candidates contesting the run-off vote at the end of next week.