French Polynesian legislative election, 2008

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January 27 and February 10, 2008

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All 57 seats to the Assembly of French Polynesia

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Gaston Tong Sang	Gaston Flosse
Party	To Tatou Ai'a	UMP
Leader's seat	Bora-Bora	Pirae
Last election	–	28 seats, 49.1%
Seats won	27	20
Seat change	–	–8
Popular vote	55,227	48,403
Percentage	41.19%	36.10%

President before election

Oscar Temaru
UMP

Elected President

Gaston Flosse
UMP

Oscar Temaru
UMP

Gaston Flosse
UMP

An early legislative election to the Assembly of French Polynesia was held in French Polynesia in early 2008. The first round of the election was held on 27 January 2008, with the second round held on 10 February 2008. The early elections was the first one to be conducted under a reformed electoral system.

The new system, approved in France on 26 November 2007, was meant to stabilise the chaotic French Polynesian political scene. Under the new system, a two-round election system was promulgated, and candidates from any political party require at least 12.5% of the vote to enter the second round of voting, and a general electoral threshold of 5% was set.

In July 2007, Former French Polynesian President Gaston Tong Sang was heavily criticized by Gaston Flosse, former President and the founder of Tong Sang's party, Tahoeraa Huiraatira. Flosse accused Tong Sang of caving in too easily to the demands of some of French Polynesia's minor coalition parties and ignoring the needs of Tahoeraa Huiraatira. Critics of Flosse asserted that the attack was merely a move by Flosse to regain the presidency, an accusation bolstered by revelations that Flosse had "secret talks" with Oscar Temaru, former President and a leading pro-independence politician who has been Flosse's long time political opponent in the past. According to reports, the talks were aimed at ousting Sang from office and setting up a unity platform between Flosse and Temaru's respective political parties.

On 29 August 2007, a no confidence motion was introduced by Temaru's Union for Democracy (UPLD). The UPLD said that the no cofidence motion against Tong Sang was based on the fact that he had only small support in the Assembly, thus losing his legitimacy to govern. Tong Sang's own Tahoeraa Huiraatira party asked him to resign ahead of the vote of no confidence against him. Tong Sang refused the calls from his party to step down.

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