pol i t ical reviews • polynesia 251 Australia, New Zealand, or anybody time this had occurred in Wallis and else. The whole proposal was a fake, Futuna. Unfortunately, a breakdown and I came to believe that the inves- in the aging plane that provides tors were simply after Tuvalu’s Trust domestic fl ights for the two-hundred- Fund.” thirty kilometer journey between Wallis and Futuna caused a problem for certain candidates in recording Reference campaign messages. Keith-Reid, Robert, and Samisoni Pareti. While the health of the elderly 2005. Tuvalu’s Next Big Hope. Islands lavelua (paramount chief, or king) Business, August. Online at http://www remained precarious (see the account .islandsbusiness.com/archives of the 2005 customary law crisis in Angleviel 2006), the question of his succession was not an issue in this campaign. The rate of voter participa- Wallis And Futuna tion, always very high, was 75 per- cent. Twenty of the twenty-six party On Sunday, 1 April 2007, the 11,165 lists obtained a seat. Seventeen incum- registered voters in Wallis and Futuna bent representatives ran for reelec- elected the twenty members of the tion, and fourteen of them succeeded. Territorial Assembly. Thirteen of the Two women were voted into the new twenty incumbent assembly members assembly with a fi ve-year mandate. were part of the national presidential Ermenegilde Simete was reelected, majority lead by Ermenegilde Simete despite being beaten by Donald (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire Mercier (a candidate with Socialist [ump], from Mua). The archipelago is leanings) in Mua. Simete won 481 divided into fi ve electoral constituen- votes, compared to his competitor’s cies, with thirteen territorial repre- 392. ump deputy Victor Brial came sentative seats for the three Wallisian in fi rst in the Sigave electorate with districts (Mua, Hahake, and Hihifo), 309 votes. The departing ump major- and seven seats for the two kingdoms ity representatives were either directly of Futuna (Sigave and Alo). Twenty- reelected (as was the case for ten of six party lists were fi led for these elec- them), or replaced by new representa- tions just before the proportional vote. tives also favoring this majority. Three women were listed at the head Due to the wide range of vot- of their parties along with Victor Brial, ing possibilities, negotiations were the ump territorial deputy. held to strengthen the ump majority. An audiovisual campaign, moni- The ump/consolidated right parties tored by the French media authority came out slightly ahead in the end, (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel winning twelve seats to the Social- [csa]), was broadcast by rfo (Réseau ist/consolidated left’s eight seats. On France Outre-mer) on both radio and 11 April, Pesamino Taputai, a member television—the only media currently of the udf (Union pour la démocra- available there. This was the second tie française)–MoDem (Mouvement 252 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:1 (2008) démocrate), a centralist party, became factors: Likuvalu’s strong support for president of the Territorial Assembly, the former lavelua during the 2005 with Victor Brial elected vice presi- customary law crisis, internal confl icts dent, and Ermenegilde Simete presi- in the local ump chapter, and private dent of the permanent commission. problems in Futuna. On 22 April 2007, 7,208 voters The 2007 legislative elections were (64.5 percent) went to the polls for the held on 10 and 17 June 2007. In the French presidential elections, with the fi rst round, Victor Brial received 2,624 following results: Olivier Besancenot votes (33.7 percent); Albert Likuvalu 71 votes (0.99 percent); Marie-George 2,424 votes (31.1 percent); Atonia Buffet 40 votes (0.56 percent); Gérard Ilalio 973 votes (12.5 percent); Pesa- Schivardi 15 votes (0.21 percent); mino Taputai 661 votes (8.5 percent); François Bayrou 804 (11.20 percent); and Ermenegilde Simete 1,101 votes José Bove 41 votes (0.57 percent); (14.1 percent). The smaller parties Dominique Voynet 60 votes (0.84 then joined forces with the larger ones, percent); Philippe de Villiers 14 votes as they usually do. Simete (ump) and (0.20 percent); Ségolène Royal 2,832 Taputai (udf) from the territorial votes (39.46 percent); Frédéric Nihous majority gave their support to Vic- 25 votes (0.35 percent); Jean-Marie tor Brial and, once Atonio Ilalio, the Le Pen 86 votes (1.20 percent); Arlette third candidate, had been eliminated, LaGuiller 63 votes (0.88 percent); and he asked his supporters to vote for Nicolas Sarkozy 3,125 votes (43.55 Likuvalu. In the meantime, Donald percent). Mercier, though Socialist, stated prior Sixty-nine percent of Wallisians and to the fi rst round that he would vote Futunians turned out to vote during for Brial, asking his territorial voters the second round of the presidential to do the same. election on 6 May 2007; 3,866 voted In the second round on 17 June for Nicolas Sarkozy (50.17 percent), 2007, Likuvalu received 4,152 votes while 3,840 voted for Ségolène Royal. (51.79 percent), while Brial only There has been a clear shift in Wal- received 3,865. It should be noted lis and Futuna toward the left, which that in the fi rst round the number of may be due either to a change in atti- people voting by power of attorney tude or to voters being weary of the was 20 percent, while the number of principal local authorities, who have abstaining voters was 29.67 percent. been in offi ce for a long time. In the second round, 27.50 percent The victory of the departing ump abstained. Likuvalu, the new deputy, deputy following the presidential elec- was born on 14 November 1943 in tions seemed to be a foregone conclu- Alo. He was the fi rst Wallisian to sion in June 2007. However, surpris- obtain a baccalaureate, and after ingly, Victor Brial was beaten by earning a master’s degree in geogra- Socialist Albert Likuvalu. This result phy from the University of Lyon, he was due to declining support for those became the fi rst certifi ed teacher in his- in power too long (which is often a tory-geography. His opposition party, problem in small insular areas), as Alliance d’opposition (opposing the well as a combination of several other ump), was recently absorbed by the pol i t ical reviews • polynesia 253 local chapter of the national Socialist d’Infanterie de Marine du Pacifi que party (ps) to which he belongs. Victor [Nouvelle Calédonie] or rimap-nc) Brial has appealed the results of the aboard. They were quartered in the election. village of Halalo, where they built a In customary law matters, the fale (traditional house) as part of their Administrative Court of Mata‘utu tour of duty. studied approximately fi fty appeals The Wallisian and Futunian com- presented by the leaders of Uvea on munity in New Caledonia, number- 12 March 2007. These were intended ing over 20,000 people, remains the to render null and void the prefecto- archipelago’s key link with the outside rial decrees made by Xavier de Fürst, world. A special agreement among the who represented the French State State, New Caledonia, and the island during the 2005 crisis. At that time territory of Wallis and Futuna, speci- the prefect had, among other things, fi ed in Article 225 of the organic law published several decrees recognizing dated 19 March 1999 affecting New the customary law chiefs who were in Caledonia, was signed into law on 1 favor of change. The court fi nally ren- December 2003. This agreement for- dered null and void the decrees made malized relations between Wallis and by Fürst and ordered the State to pay Futuna and New Caledonia. Articles damages to the territorial constitu- 1 and 2 of the agreement concern ency of Uvea, or in other words, to the the organization of services provided members of the lavelua’s governing by the State, with the latter provid- body. The court cited Article 3 of the ing that services in New Caledonia 1961 statute that in part specifi cally and the island territory of Wallis and “prohibits any involvement of the Futuna can be organized separately. Republic’s institutions in the opera- A private civil aviation department tion of customary law institutions, specifi cally for Wallis and Futuna was and does not give any administrative therefore created by interministerial authority either to the State or the ter- decree on 12 July 2006, fully inde- ritory in questions of customary law.” pendent of the one existing in New Lavelua Tomasi Kulimoetoke, king Caledonia. A defense ministry decree of Wallis since 1959 and father of dated 22 November 2005 replaced a six, died on 7 May 2007 at the age national police detachment stationed of eighty-eight. A six-month period on the islands of Wallis and Futuna of mourning was decreed and a new with a company, and increased the lavelua cannot be named until it is number of staff. The creation of the over. Some people have raised the pos- Department of Health and Social Ser- sibility of amending customary law to vices within the Work Inspection and replace the lavelua by the three district Social Services Administration was chiefs (faipule), thereby reinforcing formalized by a Territorial Assembly their authority. decree of 2 August 2006. This decree In military affairs, the French frig- was necessary to better coordinate the ate Jacques Cartier arrived in Wallis territory’s health and social policy. on 5 May with a detachment of Article 4 of the agreement allows twenty naval infantrymen (Régiment for New Caledonia and the island 254 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:1 (2008) territory of Wallis and Futuna “to in Noumea.