Paris (AFP)

The Court of Cassation rejected on Thursday the appeal of the former president of French Polynesia Gaston Flosse, who wanted to register on the electoral lists of Papeete, to be able to be a candidate for municipal elections in the commune.

At 88, Mr. Flosse, who was also a senator, member of parliament and mayor of Pirae, is no longer ineligible and wants to rebound in politics.

The former Polynesian strongman had appealed against the judgment of the Papeete court of first instance, which at the end of January refused to register him on the Papeete electoral lists, considering that the premises he presented as his accommodation could not be considered as his principal residence.

Mr. Flosse claims to have resided in Papeete for more than six months, in a room of 15 m2 which he sublets in the political office of his own party, the Tahoeraa.

But the town hall of Papeete, then the justice, estimated that this place could not be regarded as its principal residence.

In its judgment, the Court of Cassation considers that the court considered "in the exercise of its sovereign discretion" that Mr. Flosse did not justify an actual domicile in the municipality of Papeete.

The Court also notes that the court "legally justified its decision" by considering that the compulsory period of six months of residence in the municipality to be registered on the electoral lists "had not been acquired on the date of the request for registration of Mr. Flosse "on the electoral lists.

The court of Papeete had estimated that the room of Mr. Flosse "cannot be qualified as living room in the absence of development allowing a full habitability of the places (absence of kitchen) and any private character of the occupied places" .

Mr. Flosse had then invited the press to visit his studio, showing that he had a kitchen and a shower in another space of the permanence of his party.

Gaston Flosse lost all of his political offices in 2014, after a sentence of ineligibility in a fictitious jobs case. He is now eligible again, but is still prosecuted in other cases.

Deputy, senator and secretary of state to Jacques Chirac from 1986 to 1988, Mr. Flosse was mayor for almost 35 years of the city of Pirae but did not want to represent himself in this commune. Pirae is today led by the president of French Polynesia Edouard Fritch, his former dolphin who became his main political opponent.

Gaston Flosse turned to Papeete, whose mayor Michel Buillard refused him at the start of the year his registration on the electoral lists.

A political battle has started between the two men. Gaston Flosse pointed out that several homeless people, who do not have accommodation in Papeete, were nevertheless registered on the electoral lists.

Michel Buillard filed a complaint for forgery and use of forgery, claiming that the rental lease for Gaston Flosse's apartment was a forgery.

Mr. Flosse replied by filing a motion to strike out the electoral lists against Michel Buillard, arguing that he actually resides in Pirae.

© 2020 AFP