French Polynesia

Politics in French Polynesia during the year under review was dominated by a profound leadership struggle between veteran politician Gaston Flosse, who lost his position as president of the country, and his successor and former son-in-law Edouard Fritch, who successfully freed himself from his former mentor's overbearing influence. Yet it came at the price of breaking up the solid majority arising from the 2013 election and throwing the country into a new period of political instability. It all started in July 2014, when the French justice system finally started catching up with Flosse's various cases of corruption after decades of ineffective handling. On July 23, the Paris Court of Cassation, a court that examines prior cases for procedural errors, confirmed a previous criminal conviction that Flosse had first appealed, to no avail, and then re-appealed. While the court suspended Flosse's jail sentence, it confirmed a fine of 125,000 euros as well as a deprivation of his civil rights.