French Polynesia's Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party has decided that the government should face a no-confidence motion rather than resign.
It failed to win a majority in last weekend's Tahiti by-election but it now wants to see if the four-month old government, led by Gaston Flosse, can survive the vote, to be held tomorrow.
Walter Zweifel reports
"The party's central committee reportedly voted uninanimously not to let the government resign. A key minister had stepped down from the government in protest at Mr Flosse's refusal to concede defeat after the election setback. While he argued that the party will be destroyed by refusing to accept the voters verdict, the party sided with Mr Flosse to put the government on the line. He has also proposed forming a government of national unity and that is that he would not want to lead it. Meanwhile the no-confidence motion is being challenged in court for having formal flaws by Rene Hoffer, the man who proclaimed himself president at the height of last year's political stand-off. In Papeete, I'm Walter Zweifel."
