French Polynesia's veteran politician Gaston Flosse has failed in his bid to register as a voter in Papeete.
Gaston Flosse Photo: AFP
The local court upheld the decision by the electoral commission that he didn't meet the residency requirements to enrol.
Flosse, who is seeking to re-enter politics in the March municipal election, went to court after the electoral commission threw out both his application and appeal.
The court agreed with the commission that the room Flosse has at his Tahoeraa Huiraatira party's headquarters doesn't qualify as his permanent residence.
Flosse, who had his civic rights restored after a corruption conviction banned him from politics for five years, is considering taking his case to the highest court in Paris for an urgent ruling.
He had said he wanted to contest the municipal election in Papeete because he was done with Pirae where he had been mayor for 35 years.
Last June, he and the current mayor of Pirae and president of French Polynesia Edouard Fritch were convicted and fined for abusing public funds.
Flosse was also given another suspended two-year jail sentence and had been banned from holding a public office, but the sentence has not been applied because it is being appealed.