who is Moerani Frébault, the first deputy elected on Sunday in Polynesia?

The first deputy of the new legislature elected on Saturday June 29 in the evening in Polynesia (Sunday June 30 in the morning in Paris), Moerani Frébault, 35, is an unincorporated center-right autonomist candidate, a newcomer to politics.

This Marquesian collected 54.1% of the vote and beat the outgoing independentist deputy Tematai Le Gayic (35.9%), elected at the age of 21 two years ago.

Holder of a master’s degree in public law, Mr. Frébault is general director of services at the town hall of Hiva Oa, the Marquesan island known for housing the tombs of Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel. Still unknown to the general public at the start of the year, Mr. Frébault was a candidate in the European elections, in an ineligible position, on the list of the presidential majority, Need for Europe.

However, he ran in the legislative elections on a joint list of five pro-autonomy parties who agreed to “not to sit with the extremes”but will only decide after the second round of the legislative elections whether they will join the right or the centre.

Mr. Frébault announced that he would move to mainland France to exercise his mandate and also spoke out against the accumulation of mandates. His opponent Tematai Le Gayic was both a deputy and representative in the Assembly of French Polynesia. It retains this second function.

If Mr. Frébault is only taking his first steps in politics today, his family is already very involved in it. His mother, Joëlle Frébault, is mayor of Hiva Oa. She had organized a cultural ceremony to receive Emmanuel Macron on the island in 2021. Her father, Louis Frébault, was minister of equipment in the local government.