The French overseas minister Annick Girardin has ruled out sparing French Polynesia and New Caledonia from reforms being pursued by the French government.
Ms Girardin has told the French Senate that it is a priority to take into account every territory's special circumstances but some requests have to be rejected because they would defeat the purpose of the reforms.
French overseas minister Annick Girardin Photo: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
She said the president's plan for an efficient democracy involved reducing the size of each assembly by 30 percent.
She said every territory was guaranteed at least one seat in the Paris assemblies.
Earlier this month, French Polynesia's political parties spoke out against the planned cuts and limits to the number of terms mayors could serve.
A French Polynesian member of the French Senate representing the ruling Tapura Huiraatira party, Lana Tetuanui, said the plan amounted to a muzzling of democracy.
A pro-independence opposition politician Antony Geros said France should not interfere in local politics, referring to the repeated re-election of Oscar Temaru as the mayor of Faaa.
As such a reform would supersede French Polynesian rules for the top job, Edouard Fritch could become eligible to run for the presidency again in 2023.
He had earlier said the current term was his last one.
