By Walter Zweifel, RNZ Pacific reporter
Campaigning for French Polynesia’s territorial elections has entered its final week.
Dressed in their parties’ respective colours, supporters of several parties held small rallies at the weekend market in the capital Pape’ete.
In two rounds of voting — on Sunday, April 16 and Sunday, April 30 — voters will elect a new 57-member assembly for a five-year term.
A total of seven lists are contesting the elections.
Under the proportional system introduced in 2011, a list needs the support of at least 12.5 percent of the votes to make it to the second round.
The list winning most votes in the second round will get a third of all seats as a bonus.
The remaining two thirds will then be distributed according to the lists’ relative strength.
Observers say only the ruling Tāpura Huira’atira and the pro-independence Tāvini Huira’atira stand a chance to win, given their presence across the island groups.
The last time French Polynesian voters went to the poll was in 2018.
President Édouard Fritch of the Tāpura Huira’atira has held the territory’s top job since 2014.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
En Polynésie française les élections territoriales se dérouleront les 16 et 30 avril 2023. 7 listes s’affronteront dans les huit section dans une circonscription électorale unique, divisée en huit sections. Qui sont les candidats et… https://t.co/gf6p6gGyj1 Tahiti Polynesie pic.twitter.com/GX4rGIXluQ
— polynesiela1ere (@Polynesiela1ere) April 8, 2023
