Jacques Tauraa
President of the Assembly of French Polynesia
In office
6 November 1962 – 17 May 1968
Preceded byFrantz Vanizette
Succeeded byJean Millaud
In office
20 May 1959 – 2 March 1961
Preceded byGeorges Leboucher
Succeeded byFrantz Vanizette
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office
11 December 1957 – 28 October 1958
PresidentPouvanaa a Oopa
Member of the French Polynesian Assembly
for Windward Islands
In office
3 November 1957 – 16 May 1968
Personal details
Born4 February 1920[1]
Papeete, French Polynesia[1]
Died12 February 1980[1]
Nouméa, New Caledonia[1]
Political partyDemocratic Rally of the Tahitian People
Here Ai'a

Jacques Tauraa (4 February 1920 — 12 February 1980) was a French Polynesian politician and Cabinet Minister who was the longest-serving president of the Assembly of French Polynesia. He was a member of the Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People (RDPT).

Tauraa was born in Papeete and was a farmer.[1] He was president of the Chamber of Agriculture until 1957, when his membership of the pro-independence Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People caused him to lose the position.[1]

He was elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 1957 French Polynesian legislative election and appointed Minister of Economic Affairs in the government of Pouvanaa a Oopa.[1][2] He opposed a "no" (pro-independence) vote in the 1958 French Polynesian constitutional referendum.[1] He lost his position as a Minister when the French colonial government dissolved Oopa's government following the referendum, but was subsequently elected by the Assembly to the resulting interim government.[3] In May 1959 he was elected president of the Assembly.[1]

Following Oopa's prosecution, conviction and exile for arson he became the leader of the RDPT.[4] He was re-elected in the 1962 election and elected president of the Assembly, a position he held for the next six years.[1] As president of the Assembly, Tauraa opposed the use of French Polynesia as a nuclear test site.[5][6] He also supported an income tax to provide financial independence from France.[7]

Following the dissolution of the RDPT by the colonial authorities, Tauraa joined Teariki's Here Ai'a.[1] A dispute with Teariki over who the party should back in the 1965 French presidential election saw Tauraa and many of the RDPT's MP's expelled from the party in 1966.[1] In 1967 he founded a new party, the Regrouping of the Tahitian People, to contest the 1967 election, but failed to secure re-election.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Jacques TAURAA" (in French). Assemblée de la Polynésie française. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Leftist Party Takes Over in French Polynesia". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. XXVIII, no. 9. 1 April 1958. p. 21. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "1957-1959 : La première autonomie interne: Composition des conseils de gouvernement" (in French). Assemblée de la Polynésie française. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Complicated Politics of Polynesia". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. XXXIII, no. 6. 1 January 1963. p. 9. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "Le premier ministre s'efforce d'apaiser les inquiétudes suscitées par l'installation du centre d'essais nucléaires du Pacifique" (in French). Le Monde. 27 July 1964. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "TAHITIANS UNHAPPY AT BOMB TESTS". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 35, no. 9. 1 September 1964. p. 57. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "TAHITIANS STAND FIRM AGAINST INCOME TAX PLAN". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 36, no. 2. 1 February 1965. p. 29-30. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "STRONG VOTE FOR AUTONOMY IN FRENCH POLYNESIA". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 38, no. 10. 1 October 1967. p. 25. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.