separatists win the territorial elections in French Polynesia on Sunday. The list of the Tavini huiraatira party led by former government president Oscar Temaru won 44.3% of the vote in the second round.
This puts the pro-independence camp in a strong position vis-à-vis the French state to negotiate a referendum on self-determination of this territory, as large as Europe, of five archipelagos 17,000 km from Paris. While they campaigned mainly on purchasing power, the separatists also indicated that they wanted to launch a process of decolonization.