A voter casts her ballot during the first round of the territorial elections in Faa'a, Tahiti, on April 16. Photo: SULIANE FAVENNEC/AFP
Voting has started in French Polynesia in the second round to elect a new territorial assembly for a five-year term.
About 200,000 voters can choose among three lists of candidates vying for the assembly's 57 seats.
The lists of the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira, which won the first round two weeks ago, and of the autonomist A Here Ia Porinetia are unchanged.
For today's run-off round, the ruling Tapura Huiraatira changed its list by adding four candidates of the opposition Amuitahiraa, which had been eliminated in the first round.
The list winning most votes today will get a third of all seats as a bonus, which gives it an absolute majority.
The remaining two thirds of the seats will then be distributed according to the lists' relative strength.
To promote gender parity the lists must alternate male and female candidates.
Closing times of the polling stations vary, but unofficial results are expected by the end of the day.
Publishing any result before all stations are closed is prohibited and can incur a fine of $US80,000.
The new assembly will meet in mid-May to elect a new president.
The three candidates are the Tavini's Moetai Brotherson, the incumbent Edouard Fritch and the first ever woman seeking the top job, Nicole Sanquer of A Here Ia Porinetia.
Activist dies in accident
A leading activist of French Polynesia's pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira party and the anti-nuclear movement has died in an accident.
Media reports said Ralph Taaviri, who was an experienced hunter, disappeared in the Punaruu valley of Tahiti.
Searchers found his body at the bottom of a cliff, making it necessary to use a helicopter to recover it.
Taaviri was one of the co-founders of the environmental NGO Faatura te rahu a te Atua.
