Political Reviews

0LFURQHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV-XO\ WR-XQH david w kupferman, kelly g marsh, donald r shuster, tyrone j taitano

3RO\QHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV-XO\ WR-XQH lorenz gonschor, hapakuke pierre leleivai, margaret mutu, forrest wade young

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127 political reviews ‡ polynesia 183 lt, La Tercera Online. Daily Internet news. 7ëSXUD5H©R Monthly Rapa Nui–language Santiago, Chile. http://latercera.com/ newspaper. Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui. Métis National Council. 2011. Métis UN, United Nations. 2007. United Nations Nation President Visits Easter Island to Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Support Indigenous Rights Struggle. 8 Peoples. March. http://www.un.org/esa/ August. http://www.metisnation.ca/index socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf .php/news/metis-nation-president-visits [accessed 1 October 2012] -easter-island-to-support-indigenous US Congress. 2011. Calling for a Peaceful -rights-struggle [accessed 1 October 2012] Solution to the Easter Island Crisis. Con- Moore, Sally Faulk. 2000. Law as Process: gressional Record 157 (19). 8 February. An Anthropological Approach. Oxford: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC James Currey Publishers. -2011-02-08/html/CREC-2011-02-08 -pt1-PgH544-2.htm MV, Moe Varua Rapa Nui. Monthly magazine. Municipality of Hanga Roa, Wolfe, Patrick. 2006. Settler Colonialism Rapa Nui. and the Elimination of the Native. Journal of Genocide Research 8 (4): 387–409. Nelson, Aaron. 2012. A Quest For Inde- pendence: Who Will Rule Easter Island’s Young, Forrest Wade. 2012. Polynesia in Stone Heads? Time Magazine, World edi- Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2010 to tion, March. http://www.time.com/time/ 30 June 2011: Rapa Nui. The Contempo- world/article/0,8599,2110365,00.html rary Pacific 24:190–201. [accessed 1 October 2012] Noticias Terra. Daily Internet News. Santiago, Chile. http://noticias.terra.cl/ and Futuna Pakarati, Leonardo. 2012. La Nueva Ley, The 2011 Territorial Day in Wallis and La Nueva Ley! El Correo Del Moai (27) Futuna was very unusual. On the 29th [January]. of July, Wallisians and Futunans cel- ebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their Panoramas News. Daily Internet News. Santiago, Chile. http://www.pnews.cl/ becoming French citizens. Feasts and acerca-de/ cultural exhibitions were performed on both islands on 28 and 29 July. Marie- Poder Judicial de Chile. Official Reports of Luce Penchard, who was the Union Chilean Courts. http://www.poderjudicial pour un Mouvement Populaire (ump) .cl minister of Overseas France at that Porter, Robert Odawi. 2009. The Decolo- time, traveled to to nization of Indigenous Governance. In For attend the celebrations. Other politi- Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization cal personalities who took part in the Handbook, edited by Waziyatawin Angela event included Harold Martin, presi- Wilson and Michael Yellow Bird, 87–108. dent of New Caledonia, and represen- Santa Fe: School of American Research. tatives of the Wallisian and Futunan Rochona-Ramirez, Susana. 1993. La diaspora in that country. As a reminder Propiedad de la Tierra en la Isla de Pascua. of the ancestral links between Wal- Santiago, Chile: La Corporación Nacional lis Island (East Island) and the de Desarrollo Indígena. island of Ouvéa (West Uvea Island) in Santiago Times. Daily. the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia, http://www.santiagotimes.cl members of Chief Nekelo’s clan also 184 the contemporary pacific ‡ 25:1 (2013) made the trip, accompanied by Marie- was held at the Territorial Assembly Claude Tjibaou. Richard Marles, the with the prefect (the senior adminis- Australian parliamentary secretary for trator of the territory, appointed by Pacific Island affairs, was also among France), the assembly, and the Royal the guests. Council, but without any representa- In the field of digital telecommu- tives of the company. The goal of the nications, the whole territory was to meeting was to resolve this awkward switch entirely to digital television situation. On 5 November, the head service on 27 September 2011, a of eewf and representatives of the transition that was completed only in Electricité et Eau de Calédonie (eec, November due to defective technical eewf’s parent company) flew to New equipment in a few households. Caledonia. On the following Monday, From 4 to 7 October, the main Wallis Island experienced an island- labor unions held demonstrations. wide cutoff of power and water. This The aim was to bring to the atten- uncomfortable situation led the assem- tion of the superior administrator the bly to call another meeting; this time expensive cost of living. Both sides two workers represented the eewf, came to an agreement on 28 Novem- and the talks ended with an accord: ber with the creation of the Social The employees would resume their and Economic Consultative Commit- work, and the Royal Council would tee. This new office, in cooperation guarantee the safety of the work- with the price-monitoring commit- ers. Things returned to normal on tee established in June 2009, has the 8 November. responsibility of shaping propositions On 7 December, during the plenary regarding economic and social issues assembly of the Territorial Council, in the territory. the issue of the eewf came back on In mid-October, the Royal Council the table. This time the Royal Council and a few territorial assembly mem- asked the company to rehire six work- bers sought to increase the territory’s ers who had been fired at the begin- ownership in the Entreprise d’eau ning of the conflict. The company et d’électricité de Wallis et Futuna refused. (eewf, the islands’ power company) In the New Year, one issue came up to 52 percent, but the eewf denied the that dominated the rest of the review request. period: that of the elections. The On 3 November, in the village of election campaign was monitored by Vaitupu in Hihifo District, northern the French media authority (Conseil Uvea Island, an eewf worker was Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel, or csa) attacked and wounded by members of and broadcast on radio and television the public. On the same day, as a mark by Wallis & Futuna 1ère, previously of protest, colleagues of the injured rfo (Réseau France Outre-mer), worker decided to stop working. The the sole local media source. Other Royal Council called on the head of national channels (France 2, France eewf to ensure that its workers would 3, France 4, France 5, France Ô, Arte, provide at least the minimum level of and France 24) are also available in service. The next morning a meeting the territory. political reviews ‡ polynesia 185

For the Territorial Assembly elec- David Vergé, a European shopkeeper tions, which are conducted using a married to a Wallisian woman, polled proportional representation system in 30.3 percent, followed by Mikaele multi-seat constituencies, thirty party Kulimoetoke (25 percent), Patalione lists contested to fill the twenty seats. Kanimoa (17.5 percent), and Petelo Three topics dominated the debates Hanisi (15.7 percent). All these can- during the campaign period. First was didates are independent, apart from the high cost of living, including the Kanimoa, who is the ump economic high prices for electricity, gasoline, and and social counselor. There were note- basic commodities. Second was the worthy defeats in the district, includ- issue of Wallis and Futuna’s territo- ing those of ump candidate Victor rial status, which is set in French law Brial, the former deputy from 1997 to dating back to 1961. This issue was 2007, and centrist Pesamino Taputai. first raised in 1980 when members In the district of Mu‘a, out of 2,004 of the Territorial Assembly asked valid votes, Laufilitoga Mireille’s the prefect to amend the 1961 sta- party secured two seats (22.6 per- tus. This requested revision aimed to cent), allowing her to appoint the substitute a government council for second candidate on the party’s list, the current Territorial Assembly, but Emile Selui. They were followed by the effort sank into oblivion. Finally, ump Yannick Feleu (17.7 percent, the overriding question of economic reelected), Munipoese Muliakaaka development occupied a large part of (17.3 percent), Bernard Taufana the debate. For instance, what struc- (16.5 percent), and Eselone Ikai (9.7 tures must be created in order to keep percent). The outgoing president of young people from leaving the terri- the assembly, Socialist leader Siliako tory? Many interesting issues were dis- Lauhea, was defeated. cussed during the political rallies, but In the kingdom of on the the actual voting remained clan-based. island of Futuna, with a total of Wallisians and Futunans still make 880 valid votes, independent Petelo their political choices not according to Falelavaki was elected (18.8 percent), policies or programs but following the beating independent Savelina Vea familial vote. (16.8 percent) and the centrist Pasi- In the northern district of Hihifo, kale Niutoua (16.8 percent). In the there were 1,188 valid votes, and kingdom of , which had a total of the two incumbents were reelected: 1,340 votes, all the candidates from Nivaleta Iloai (24.7 percent) from the the former assembly were reelected Union pour Wallis et Futuna (upwf, including the ump’s Toma Savea (22.2 akin to the French ) percent), independents Sosefo Motuku and Atoloto Kolokilagi (17.4 percent) (21.9 percent) and Alesio Katoa (20.4 from the ump. Also elected was new- percent), and the upwf’s Vetelino Nau comer Sosefo Suve (30.10 percent), a (17.9 percent). From the 2007 assem- secondary school teacher, who ran as bly, only nine members were renewed. an independent. The remarkable electorate turnout In the central district of Hahake, (85.95 percent) showed the aspiration with a total of 2,158 valid votes, of Wallisians and Futunans to bring 186 the contemporary pacific ‡ 25:1 (2013) about notable change. However, there Wallis and Futuna was the national was a huge loss of 2,259 registered record holder among France’s overseas voters between the 2007 (11,167) and territories in electoral turnout with 2012 (8,908) elections. Some of this 76.4 percent for both rounds. may be due to deaths, but more of the Wallisians and Futunans went decline is likely due to the emigration back to the ballot for the first round of Wallisians and Futunans. of legislative elections on 10 June On 2 April the Territorial Assembly 2012. Six candidates competed for the convened with a new majority shaped deputy’s seat. There were 8,980 voters by independents (mostly leaning registered. Of the 6,934 valid votes Socialist, except for Suve and Vergé) cast, David Vergé (Divers Droite) got and upwf members. upwf Vetelino 1,997 votes (28.80 percent), followed Nau was elected assembly presi- by Mikaele Kulimoetoke (Divers dent over Sosefo Suve, with Mikaele Gauche) with 1,345 (19.40 percent); Kulimoetoke elected as vice president. Albert Likuvalu (Radical de Gauche), Petelo Hanisi was elected president of the outgoing deputy, with 1,179 (17 the permanent commission. percent); Epifano Tui (Socialist) with On 22 April 2012, 6,407 voters 913 (13.17 percent); Atonio Ilalio (71.67 percent) went to the polls (Centre) with 858 (12.37 percent); for the French presidential elec- and Simione Vanai (Socialist) with 642 tions. There were ten electoral rolls (9.26 percent). The novel issue in this at the first round, with the follow- legislative election was the failure of ing results: 100 votes (1.56 four candidates from the left wing to percent); 152 votes support a single person. The second (2.37 percent); round brought a three-way election 2,414 votes (37.68 percent); Jean-Luc among David Vergé (supported by Mélenchon 76 votes (1.19 percent); the local ump but also by the former 42 votes (0.66 per- socialist supporters of his father-in- cent); Nathalie Artaud 48 votes (0.75 law Tialetagi Penisio, who had been percent); Jacques Cheminade 29 votes a candidate to the deputy’s position (0.45 percent); François Bayrou 410 running against Victor Brial in 2002) votes (6.40 percent); Nicolas Dupont- and two socialist candidates, Mikalele Aignan 43 votes (0.67 percent); Fran- Kulimoetoke and Albert Likuvalu. çois Hollande 3,093 votes (48.28 per- On 17 June 2012, the three-way race cent). The second round took place on allowed David Vergé to be elected 6 May 2012. At this time Wallisians with 3,068 votes (41.61 percent) of and Futunans again showed their the 7,374 valid votes, followed by desire for change. Of the 6,769 valid Mikaele Kulimoetoke with 3,026 votes cast, Socialist François Hollande (41.04 percent) and Albert Likuvalu gained 3,795 votes (56.06 percent) with 1,280 (17.36 percent). Once against 2,974 (43.95 percent) votes for again, Wallis and Futuna had the outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy. highest electoral turnout with 78.08 The archipelago swung to the left as percent. people voted for an alternative after Wallis and Futuna will host the seventeen years of right-wing rule. 2013 South Pacific Minigames, in political reviews ‡ polynesia 187 which twenty-two countries will take ieom, Institut d’émission d’Outre-Mer. part. The building of sporting facili- 2011. Wallis et Futuna en : ties is currently underway, includ- Rapport Annuel. Paris: Editions ieom. ing the construction of the Kafika http://www.ieom.fr/IMG/rapport_annuel multipurpose structure, whose cost _ieom_wallis-et-futuna_2011/Rapport _annuel_IEOM_Wallis-et-Futuna_2011/ is projected to exceed us$5 million. index.php The committee is still working on the logistics of the games such as accom- Leleivai, Hapakuke Pierre. 2012. Wallis modations and dining facilities for and Futuna: Issues and Events, July 2007 the athletes. to June 2011. The Contemporary Pacific 24:201–206. hapakuke pierre leleivai Pignot, Marion. 2012. Les voix du change- ments. Les Nouvelles-Calédoniennes, References 26 March. Angleviel, Frederic. 2008. Wallis and Futuna: Issues and Events, 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007. The Contemporary Pacific 20:251–254.