Transcript
After a campaign littered with accusations of cheating, the Tahoeraa Huiraatira candidate Geffry Salmon was conciliatory in his tone.
Looking around the assembly he also took stock of the political landscape after the defections and expulsions which had decimated his Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party
"Abstentions have been the great winner of this election and this number which is growing from one election to the next should concern us all. In the end the result of the majority represents a third of registered voters, as it was the case for us in 2013. And today the problems are the same as yesterday. No real solution has been brought to the employment crisis, the poverty or the misery which is gaining ground."
Oscar Temaru, the veteran leader of the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira Party, took to the podium and planted a United Nations flag.
Addressing the assembly first in Tahitian and then in French, he restated his conviction that over time French Polynesia will regain its sovereignty.
By using the UN flag, he showed his disapproval of France which keeps boycotting the decolonisation process adopted by the UN General Assembly five years ago.
He pointed to how his political rivals' support of the French nuclear weapons testing regime has changed into joining the lament over its detrimental legacy.
In a departure from past elections, Mr Temaru also delivered a song and read from a letter sent by a supporter.
"Probity has to be an absolute prerequisite for the ruling political class and on tis count I'm proud to have taken part in the March organised by the Tavini Huiraatira last April"
Edouard Fritch defended his team which includes almost a dozen politicians with convictions for corruption.
He himself got two sentences in the last term and was ordered to repay more than $US80,000 of taxpayers money.
"I want to remind those members wanting to act like judges, that justice has passed and been done. I add that under the constitution this justice expresses itself on behalf of the people and that on the 6th of May that same Maohi people has legitimised us."
And he let Mr Temaru's side know that the decolonisation effort has gone nowhere.
"What added value has this brought to our country? None, none, none at all. Even in January 2017 after bad weather cause serious damage, the UN, which is concerned about global warming, ignored us completely."
Edouard Fritch will present his new government this week.
Its challenges are cut out, with a pension reform a priority.
Before the election mass protests and a general strike stopped it while Mr Fritch warned that the scheme will be bankrupt unless he has his way to fix it.
