Flosse's appeal to contest April French Polynesia poll fails

Transcript

Walter Zweifel: Two of Flosse's convictions resulted in suspended jail sentences and both included a ban on holding office. The first one was for three years and the second one was for two years.

The second conviction was given to him while he was serving his first ban. In Tahiti, the judges ruled that the second ban had to be applied once the first one had expired. Flosse however argued that the bans could be observed at the same time. His lawyers found some expertise to claim he was correct but the highest court in Paris disagreed.

Don Wiseman: So when will the second ban expire?

WZ: Being added to the first ban, the second one will be until next year. With territorial elections being held every five years Flosse cannot stand until 2023 by which time he will be 91.

DW: What was he convicted for to get banned?

WZ: The first case was for running a network of phantom jobs from the mid-1990s onward by keeping a raft of people on the publicly funded payroll while their function was to promote the interests of his Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party. It was the biggest such case in French legal history and nearly two decades passed between the first complaint and the sentence. The second ban was issued in 2016 for misspending public funds over almost a decade. 20 years ago Flosse had run, with tacit support from Paris, an intelligence network to spy on rivals, journalists, activists and mistresses. The spying allegations were eventually thrown out in court but a journalist Alex du Prel claimed the agency had abused public funds. That complaint was based on an audit that showed the unit, with its dozen staff, could not account for anything it had produced. The reason for that was that all evidence was destroyed in 2004 when Flosse lost the election to Oscar Temaru.

DW: What will this rejection mean for the election?

WZ: Voters appear to be unfazed by corruption convictions. Flosse still runs his party and he is unlikely to abandon politics. However he will have to field someone else to top the list, which has to be finalised by Monday. The Tahoeraa has shrunk since Flosse was forced out of office four years ago because internal dissent has split it. The majority has sided with Edouard Fritch who succeeded Flosse. The Tahoeraa won't be able to replicate its last result of 2013 when it won two thirds of all assembly seats.