11 Sep 2014

Tahiti's Flosse faces Senate removal process

12:20 pm on 11 September 2014

The French justice minister has initiated the process to strip French Polynesia's Gaston Flosse of his seat in the French Senate despite him not seeking re-election at the end of the month.

At the weekend, the French government served Flosse last July's court sentence for corruption, which entailed a suspended four-year jail term and the loss of his office for three years.

The order for him to vacate French Polynesia's presidency was enacted but the process to strip him of his Senate seat is more complicated.

Although reports say it cannot be completed before the end of September, the justice minister has started it.

Last month, French Polynesia's daily newspaper identified Flosse as the only Senator not to have worked a single day in the past year while on full pay.

Flosse has named two members of his party, including a son-in-law, as candidates for French Polynesia's two seats in the Senate.

The dominance of his party is such that their election is almost certain.