Reports from French Polynesia say the Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party has lost yet another member to the splinter group formed in the assembly this year.
Photo: RNZ
The local daily paper, La Depeche de Tahiti, says Henri Flohr has left the party to join the Tapuna Huiraatira assembly group, which includes most government members but is yet to set up itself up as a new party.
The split has pitted the party leader and former president, Gaston Flosse, against the new president, Edouard Fritch, who has been spared a purge because he was, apart from Flosse, the only party member elected by its Congress.
The Tahoeraa has meanwhile issued a statement, quashing suggestions in the paper that yet another Tahoeraa assembly member, Gilda Vaiho Faatoa, is poised to defect.
The Tahoeraa lost its majority as a result of defections and purges, leaving no party or group in control of a majority.
In 2003, Mr Flohr managed to remain an assembly member despite a conviction for the misuse of public funds which prompted court action against the then French High Commissioner for failing to implement the court verdict.
