Tahiti Politician Eyes Euro Seat, gets France's support

A Tahiti politician, Tearii Alpha has set his eyes on the Euro seat. France's ruling En Marche of Emmanuel Macron chose Alpha as the candidate on slot 34 of its list.

The French Polynesian president Edouard Fritch said he was happy with the ranking but observers said he was too low on the list to have a chance to be elected. The En Marche would have to win about 43 per cent of the votes to get a seat. Opinion polls suggested both En Marche and the National Rally are poised to win over 20 per cent of the seats allocated to France. The four French Polynesian parliamentarians placed in Paris are members of Fritch's Tapura Party, but they jointly criticized their party's decision to back En Marche in the European election.