Mayor Elected

New Anti-Bomb

In Papeete

The Union Communale, a group of Tahitians who are op posed to France’s nuclear testing programme in the Pacific,

emerged triumphant in elections

for the Papeete municipal coun cil in October.

HEADED by Mr. Georges (“Tetua”) Pambrun, the Union Communale ended the long reign over Papeete of Senator Alfred Poroi, who campaigned with the slogan, “Voter pour Poroi, c’est voter pour la presence Francaise” (“To vote for Poroi is to vote for the French presence)”.

Senator Poroi had been mayor of Papeete continuously for 24 years before the election. He has been French Polynesia’s senator in the French Parliament for the past four.

The new mayor, a 60-year-old pharmacist, is a former deputy mayor of Papeete and a former member of French Polynesia’s Territorial As sembly. He is a son of a French man who settled in Tahiti in 1902.

Among those who supported the Union Communale in its election campaign were two well-known anti bomb crusaders, Messrs. John Teariki and Jean-Baptiste Ceran-Jerusalemy.

Banned Political Parties

Mr. Teariki, who is Deputy for French Polynesia in the French Parliament, has constantly and out spokenly opposed France’s nuclear testing project in the Pacific.

Mr. Ceran-Jerusalemy is a former leading member of two Tahiti political parties—the RDPT and the Pupu Tiama Maohi that were banned by decree of President de Gaulle in November, 1963 (PIM, Dec., 1963, p. 13).

The banning of the two parties followed the circulation in Tahiti of petitions protesting against the “in vasion” of the island by French troops for the nuclear testing project.

F ootnote: Before the municipal elections, Senator Poroi made a “famous last words” prediction in an interview with a writer from the monthly English-language magazine, Tahiti. Asked about his prospects at the elections, Senator Poroi said: “No problems, I am going to win because I know Papeete best; and the citizens here know that my career is dedica ted to their welfare”.