Antony Geros Photo: Rodio1 Tahiti / Cédric VALAX
Antony Geros of the pro-independence Tavini Huitraatira party has been elected as the assembly president in French Polynesia.
In the assembly's first sitting, 41 of the 57 members voted for Geros, who was unopposed.
The Tavini had won 38 of the seats in last month's territorial elections thanks to an electoral system which gives the list of candidates coming first an absolute majority.
Geros, 66, has been assembly president - a role similar to the Speaker under the Westminster system - twice before, and on three occasions he was the vice-president of the government.
Tomorrow, the French Polynesian president is due to be elected, with Tavini's Moetai Brotherson all but certain to be elected for a five-year term.
The new president will then have five days to present his government.
Brotherson has said he will run a ten-member government, with a majority of ministers being women.