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Mahina Mayor Facing Likelihood Of Ouster From Office

Thursday: September 18, 2008

(Tahitipresse)

An independent judge has called for the Papeete Administrative Court to declare Mahina Mayor Emile Vernaudon ineligible to hold public office for one year, which, if upheld, would force him out of office.

The court's "commissaire du government," a judge who represents neither the government nor either side, rejected Vernaudon's defense that he was acting in good faith during the municipal elections in March.

Vernaudon, the mayor of Tahiti's north coast Commune of Mahina (2007 pop. 14,369) since 1977, is charged with contributing 220,000 French Pacific francs (US$2,683/€1,844) in personal funds towards his campaign. That violates the law, which limits personal campaign funding to small amounts, the independent judge said.

The Administrative Court has up to 15 days to rule on whether to uphold the judge's recommendation, which this type of court generally does in 80 percent of the cases.

If the court follows the recommendation, Vernaudon would become ineligible to hold public office on the day of the court's ruling. But he could also appeal the court's ruling, which would allow him to remain in office until the appeal process is exhausted.

The court case against Vernaudon stems from a French national commission's examination of the two rounds of municipal elections held in March. The National Audit Commission of Campaign and Political Financing raised questions in July over the campaign accounts of the heads of 13 lists of candidates.

Among those 13 politicians, the independent judge also recommended an Administrative Court ruling of one-year ineligibility for three members of Tahiti's opposition UPLD (Union for Democracy) coalition--James Salmon in the capital city of Papeete (2007 pop. 26,017), Ruben Teremate of Tahiti's west coast Commune of Punaauia (pop. 25,441), and Jean-Paul Barral of Punaauia. They are accused of not filing an accounting of their campaign costs on time.

The judge also recommended one-year ineligibility court rulings for Marc Ploton in Tahiti's north coast Commune of Arue (2007 pop. 9,458) and Veronique Amo of Tahiti's south coast Commune of Papara (pop. 10,615). They are also accused of not filing an accounting of their campaign costs on time.

The court also has under consideration 48 municipal elections appeals. In one of those cases, the independent judge rejected arguments Tuesday from Edouard Fritch, whom Béatrice Vernaudon defeated by 87 votes in Tahiti's north coast Commune of Pirae (2007 pop. 14,475). That victory led to the toppling of Fritch, Pirae's mayor since 2000.

Fritch, a member of the UDSP (Union for Development, Stability and Peace) opposition coalition in the French Polynesia Assembly, has called for the court to nullify the Pirae election results.

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