Transcript
Gaston Flosse is the leader of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira, and the big winner of the last election five years ago when it won two thirds of all seats.
Two convictions for corruption means he is barred from standing until 2019.
He was livid after being told that the highest court in France refused to consider his appeal and on public television he suggested that the French government had determined his fate.
"In the case of French Polynesia, Gaston Flosse has to be eliminated. This is an order from the top and, well, it has to be carried out."
Flosse explained further.
"I know how it is - I was a minister of the Republic. At the Elysee there is an office which is called the Chancellery. And from there the president of the Republic and those who are in charge of the overseas territories give orders. The orders are followed."
So far, there has been no reaction from the French government to the claim.
In the lead-up to this year's poll, two newly formed political groupings won't allow candidates with a criminal record.
The established pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira Party is also of this view.
Its member of the French National Assembly wants a lifetime ban on anyone standing for election if they're convicted of misusing public funds.
Under the rules in force now, however, several politicians with corruption convictions have been allowed to run, including the current president Edouard Fritch who received two convictions during his presidency without it affecting his political career.
Another one is the former president Gaston Tong Sang.
Flosse blames the local judiciary for this.
"He has been given a one-year suspended prison sentence, which is heavy, and to a five million franc fine, but no ineligibility. Why is there ineligibility for Gaston Flosse but not for Gaston Tong Sang? Do you think this is normal? Do you think there is justice in this country?"
Flosse is also at odds with the French High Commissioner who is in charge of the election process.
"What is serious is that today that directly and openly the French state, through the High Commissioner, is frankly against the Tahoeraa Huiraatira and its president. They want to eliminate him. We have not ever seen such a thing, except perhaps at the time of Pouvanaa."
The local nationalist politician Pouvanaa a Oopa was pardoned and allowed to return to Tahiti in 1968 after his controversial trial and jailing in 1959 for allegedly fomenting unrest.
Flosse has meanwhile chosen another politician with a criminal record Geffry Salmon as the Tahoeraa frontrunner.
And he has suggested he'll push for fresh elections next year once his ban has expired.
