9 Apr 2013

Heightened rhetoric amid Tahiti eligibility row

1:34 pm on 9 April 2013

The leader of French Polynesia's the newly formed A Tia Porinetia Party, Teva Rohfritsch, says he is considering taking legal action over repeated claims that he is ineligible to stand in this month's territorial election.

A first challenge by Jean-Paul Tuaiva of the opposition Tahoeraa Huiraatira has been dismissed but he says the question of whether Mr Rohfritsch is properly registered in his electorate has not been answered conclusively.

Mr Rohfritsch says the repeated allegations amount to slander, lies and defamation.

The Tahoeraa is seen as a main rival for the support of the anti-independence vote.

The territorial election will involve two rounds of voting, with polling in less than two and four weeks.