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In the often-turbulent recent political history of French Polynesia, the year under review was a relatively calm one. Against all odds, Edouard Fritch consolidated his power as the country’s president, transforming his tenuous tenure in office into one based on a comparatively solid majority, and uniting under his leadership all political forces that oppose both independence and Fritch’s predecessor Gaston Flosse. Meanwhile, for the first time in over a decade, the country hosted a French presidential visit, which made some hopeful impressions, but at the same time the French government continues to stubbornly refuse to engage with United Nations institutions to work with them toward the country’s decolonization.

Politics in French Polynesia during the year under review was dominated by a profound leadership struggle between veteran politician Gaston Flosse, who lost his position as president of the country, and his successor and former son-in-law Edouard Fritch, who successfully freed himself from his former mentor's overbearing influence. Yet it came at the price of breaking up the solid majority arising from the 2013 election and throwing the country into a new period of political instability. It all started in July 2014, when the French justice system finally started catching up with Flosse's various cases of corruption after decades of ineffective handling. On July 23, the Paris Court of Cassation, a court that examines prior cases for procedural errors, confirmed a previous criminal conviction that Flosse had first appealed, to no avail, and then re-appealed. While the court suspended Flosse's jail sentence, it confirmed a fine of 125,000 euros as well as a deprivation of his civil rights.

The political situation of French Polynesia during the period under review was in two ways fundamentally different from previous periods. First, as a result of May 2013 elections, there is a two-thirds majority for Gaston Flosse's anti-independence Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party in the legislative assembly that is most likely to remain for the full term, setting the present situation apart from the preceding decade-long instability caused by constantly changing political majorities. Yet the pending retrials of Pres Flosse (who was earlier sentenced to jail terms for corruption, which he had appealed) as well as his advancing age (he turned eighty-three in June 2013) make it doubtful that he will retain the presidency for the entire five-year term. French Polynesia is now regarded by the international community as a territory to be decolonized, although France keeps resisting what it regards as UN interference in its domestic policies.

Alex du Prel, the editor of Tahiti Pacifique magazine, has told Radio Australia Mr [Gaston Flosse] was taken into custody a short time ago [Radio Australia text website says 7 p.m. local time, 0500 gmt] after meeting with an investigating judge.

Gaston Flosse, who heads the opposition Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party, will appear before a magistrate in March over claims he misused funds while he was president between 1991 and 2004. The Les Nouvelles de Tahiti newspaper said Flosse, a French senator, would appear before the magistrate over his government's purchase of the Anuanuraro Atoll, and the way it operated an intervention group. According to reports, a French audit in 2006 also found top politicians led by Flosse inappropriately used $US3 million ($A3.4 million).

Mr [Gaston Flosse] says he will not use force to remove the protesters because he does not want strife in French Polynesia.

France's ruling UMP party [Union for a Popular Movement] has reconfirmed its confidence in French Polynesia's Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party, saying they are natural and historic partners.

A criminal court in Tahiti gave ex-president Gaston Flosse a suspended three-month jail sentence after finding him guilty of abusing his political office, Radio New Zealand International reported.

A criminal court in Tahiti gave ex-president Gaston Flosse a suspended three-month jail sentence after finding him guilty of abusing his political office, Radio New Zealand International reported.

A tribunal in French Polynesia has auctioned a property which was seized from the former president, Gaston Flosse, last year.