French Polynesia's ruling Tahoeraa Huiraatira has regained the mayoralty of Pirae in the first round of the municipal election.
Edouard Fritch defeated the incumbent Beatrice Vernaudon by securing more than 60 percent of the votes.
Walter Zweifel reports.
"In his quest to win in Pirae, Mr Fritch said he would resign as member of the French National Assembly because of the limit on the number of mandates a politician may hold. His election success comes just weeks after he was charged with abusing public funds for arranging free water supplies to his Pirae residence and that of his father-in-law, Gaston Flosse, who had earlier been the town mayor for 35 years. In the most populous town, Faa'a, voters have overwhelmingly re-elected Oscar Temaru whose tenure as mayor is now entering its thirty second year. In Papeete, no candidate has won an outright majority, making it necessary to have a run-off vote in a week."
