Tavini Huiraatira (Political party, French Polynesia)

Last modified: 2013-06-20 by ivan sache
Keywords: tavini huiraatira | stars: 5 (yellow) | taui rua |
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• Presentation of Tavini Huiraatira
• Flag of Tavini Huiraatira

See also:

• French Polynesia

Presentation of Tavini Huiraatira

Oscar Temaru, born in 1944 in Faaa, studied in the secondary Catholic school in New Caledonia, where he met Jean-Marie Tjibaou, later a Kanak independentist leader. Temaru founded on 20 April 1977 the independentist Front de Libération de Polynésie, renamed in 1983 Tavini Huiraatira (Serving people).

On 13 March 1983, Temaru was elected Mayor of Faaa and ordered to remove the French national flag and the statue of Marianne from the city hall. In 1987, Temaru was appointed President for life of the party, a clause which was suppressed in 1990.
In 1995, the resumption of the nuclear trials in Polynesia decided by President Jacques Chirac triggered the Tavini Huiraatira; the capital city of Polynesia, Papeete, was trashed by riots on 6 September 1995. In the 1996 elections, the Tavini Huiraatira increased its votes by 13%.

Temaru then softened his independentist program, speaking of "emancipation accompanied by France" and suppressing the self-management and Socialist chapters of his program. For the 2004 elections, Temaru led a coalition of small autonomist parties and set up a "partnership agreement" with the Socialist Party. The motto of the campaign was Taui (Changing). Temaru's coalition won the election and he was elected President of French Polynesia on 30 June.
His opponent and former President of French Polynesia Gaston Flosse, leader of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira, did not admit his defeat and started to plot against the new government. The Deputy Noa Tetuanui abandoned Temaru for Flosse and the governement was defeated on 9 October. Temaru led the biggest demonstration ever organized in French Polynesia (20,000) but Flosse was elected President of French Polynesia.
After by-elections won by his coalition on 13 February 2005, Temaru was again elected President of French Polynesia.

Ivan Sache, 30 August 2005

Flag of Tavini Huiraatira

The flag of the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira was seen during television broadcasts of the pro-independence riots in Tahiti, mid-1996. The dimensions are not guaranteed to be accurate, but the white band did seem to be considerably wider than the two blue bands.

James Dignan, 2 December 1997

The Flags of Aspirant Peoples chart [eba94] labels this flag:

Ivan Sache, 17 September 1999

Last night's TV news showed campaign flags of Tavini Huiraatira, with the words Taui Rua! (Change now!) in black on white.

James Dignan, 14 February 2005