Re-elected French National Assembly MP Nicolas Metzdorf Photo: LNC
Loyalist MP Metzdorf hopes pro-independence MP Tjibaou will remain moderate
Emmanuel Tjibaou Photo: NC la 1ere
Re-elected French National Assembly MP, Loyalist Nicolas Metzdorf, hopes his newly elected pro-independence colleague Emmanuel Tjibaou will remain moderate in future.
Metzdorf and Tjibaou were both the winners for a seat in New Caledonia's two constituencies, as part of the French snap elections on Sunday.
Metzdorf scored 52.41 percent of the votes, Tjibaou 57.44 percent, with a very high voter turnout of 71.35 percent, according to official results.
Both MPs, who represent opposing camps in New Caledonia's polarised political spectrum, are widely regarded as holding a key position in future talks on the political future of New Caledonia.
Metzdorf however said he hopes Tjibaou's moderate character will not change in future, despite pressure from his political base.
"Before this election, I didn't know Mr Tjibaou apart from reputation, of course. What I see is that he has a very moderate, very progressive, constructive speech. How long this will last, I don't know. Because in the past, we have always talked to pro-independence people who were moderate at the beginning, and then they were caught up by fear", Metzdorf told local Radio Rythme Bleu.
He said pressure usually came from "FLNKS Congress, the Political Bureau of the Union Calédonienne" (UC, a radical component of the FLNKS pro-independence umbrella), or the "militant base".
"So we will see how Mr Tjibaou's speech evolves over time. If he stays in this dynamic, obviously it is possible to do something (...) On the other hand, if he is overtaken by UC's radicalism, things will get complicated."
French Polynesia's MPs endorse cannabis for therapeutic use
Arii and Tumata, parents of Ariimatatini who has epilepsy. Photo: Polynésie la 1ère
French Polynesia's Territorial Assembly has this week endorsed cannabis for therapeutic use.
This means the importation of such products is now allowed, provided the product is also authorised in its country of origin.
There are plans to later allow the cultivation of cannabis, provided it does not belong to the narcotic category.
A Court in Papeete recently acquitted the father of an epileptic boy who had cultivated and used cannabis to produce massage oil and treat his son.
French Polynesia rolls out 5G network this week
French Polynesia rolls out 5G network this week Photo: TNTV
French Polynesia is this week introducing a 5G network, starting from the capital Papeete, two weeks ahead of the Olympic Games' surf event which will be held there.
Operators (both private and public) say the network would gradually be updated to other parts of the main island of Tahiti.
Chiefly Polynesian staff used as curtain rod fetches £18,900 at English auction
A 2-meter chiefly wooden staff from French Polynesia's Austral islands, used as curtain rod by an English descendant of Presbyterian missionaries, fetched almost £20,000 at an auction,
The Sun newspaper reported earlier this week.
The top of a traditional Tahiti artifact, about two-metres, had been used as an ordinary curtain pole for decades. The wooden pole was in fact a rare Polynesian chiefly item from the Austral Islands. Photo: The Sun-BNPS
When he decided to get rid of it, the item was assessed and turned out to be a very rare and highly-valued ceremonial chiefly staff from the French Polynesia's Austral archipelago.
The seller said he had no idea of the significance of this wooden pole and that in fact, he had always used it as a curtain rod in his Somerset residence.
At the auction, recently, the cultural item fetched £18,900 by an unidentified British private collector.