15 Apr 2010

French Polynesia's To Tatou Aia lashes at out rival parties

1:32 pm on 15 April 2010

The party of French Polynesia's president, Gaston Tong Sang, has hit out at the other key parties in the assembly after securing just one of the 10 top positions among the assembly commissions.

In a statement, the To Tatou Aia says it deplores the method used by Oscar Temaru's and Gaston Flosse's parties describing them as a parade of turncoats.

It says the two parties don't care about the territory's catastrophic situation, calling for a stop to their ravenous political ambitions.

This comes after last week's election of a new assembly president which ended the coalition between the To Tatou Aia and Mr Flosse's Tahoeraa Huiraatira.

The two sides managed to muster less than a quarter of the assembly votes to back Mr Flosse's candidacy, clearing the way for Mr Temaru to win the position with the support of some To Tatou Aia members.

Mr Tong Sang has joined the chorus of calls for a dissolution of the assembly, while the opposition says he should face up to his setback and resign.