This is the second time that a pro-independence person has held this position.
Moetai Brotherson was elected President of Polynesia on Friday 12 May. This was expected as the pro-independence party had won the recent territorial elections. He declared after the election that we must: “Respect the people above all, respect all the institutions, respect the State so that it respects us, respect our cousins in the Pacific, respect ourselves, do a little more sport, eat a little better.
We need to change
He quoted the Russian writer Tolstoi who “said everyone wants to see the world change, but no one wants to change… we need to meditate on these words”. Moetai Brotherson has five years to achieve a large number of reforms. He will present his government very soon. It is not the first time that a pro-independence person is president of Polynesia. Oscar Tamaru has already held this position. This does not mean that Polynesia will be independent.
Independence is something else…
The local government cannot decide on its own to be independent. It would require a referendum or an agreement between the State and the local political parties. It is worth mentioning that the majority of the votes in the last elections went to non-independence parties. The party of the new president took advantage of the division of the “loyalists” to win the elections comfortably.
