Country name:
conventional long form: Overseas Lands of French Polynesia
conventional short form:
French Polynesia
local long form:
Pays d'outre-mer de la Polynesie Francaise
local short form:
Polynesie Francaise
former:
French Colony of Oceania
Dependency status:
overseas lands of France; overseas territory of France from 1946-2003; overseas collectivity of France since 2003, though it is often referred to as an overseas country due to its degree of autonomy
Government type:
parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity
Capital:
name: Papeete (located on Tahiti)
geographic coordinates:
17 32 S, 149 34 W
time difference:
UTC-10 (5 hours behind Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
none (overseas lands of France); there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government, but there are five second order administrative units named Iles Australes, Iles du Vent, Iles Marquises, Iles Sous le Vent, Iles Tuamotu et Gambier
Independence:
none (overseas lands of France)
National holiday:
Fete de la Federation, 14 July (1789); note - the local holiday is Internal Autonomy Day, 29 June (1880)
Constitution:
4 October 1958 (French Constitution)
Legal system:
the laws of France, where applicable, apply
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Francois HOLLANDE (since 15 May 2012), represented by High Commissioner of the Republic Lionel BEFFRE (since 16 September 2013)
head of government:
President of French Polynesia Gaston FLOSS (since 17 May 2013); President of the Assembly of French Polynesia L. Edouard FRITCH (since 16 May 2013)
cabinet:
Council of Ministers; president submits a list of members of the Assembly for approval by them to serve as ministers
elections:
French president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; high commissioner appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; president of the French Polynesia government and the president of the Assembly of French Polynesia elected by the members of the assembly for five-year terms (no term limits)
Legislative branch:
unicameral Assembly of French Polynesia or Assemblee de la Polynesia francaise (57 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections:
last held on 21 April 2013 (first round) and 5 May 2013 (second round) (next to be held in 2018)
election results:
percent of vote by party - Popular Rally 45.1%, Union for Democracy alliance 29.3%, A Tia Porinetia 25.6%, other 15.8%; seats by party - Popular Rally 38, Union for Democracy alliance 11, A Tia Porinetia 8
note:
two seats were elected to the French Senate on 21 September 2008 (next to be held in September 2014); results - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UMP 1, independent 1; three seats were elected to the French National Assembly on 17 June 2012 (next to be held by June 2017); results - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - UMP 3
Judicial branch:
highest court(s): Court of Appeal or Cour d'Appel (composition NA)
judge selection and term of office: NA
subordinate courts: Court of the First Instance or Tribunal de Premiere Instance; Court of Administrative Law or Tribunal Administratif
Political parties and leaders:
A Tia Porinetia [Teva ROHFRITSCH]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA
International organization participation:
ITUC (NGOs), PIF (associate member), SPC, UPU
Diplomatic representation in the US:
none (overseas lands of France)
Diplomatic representation from the US:
none (overseas lands of France)
Flag description:
two red horizontal bands encase a wide white band in a 1:2:1 ratio; centered on the white band is a disk with a blue and white wave pattern depicting the sea on the lower half and a gold and white ray pattern depicting the sun on the upper half; a Polynesian canoe rides on the wave pattern; the canoe has a crew of five represented by five stars that symbolize the five island groups; red and white are traditional Polynesian colors
note:
similar to the red-white-red flag of Tahiti, the largest of the islands in French Polynesia, which has no emblem in the white band; the flag of France is used for official occasions
National symbol(s):
outrigger canoe
National anthem:
name: "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" (Long Live Tahiti Nui)
lyrics/music:
Maeva BOUGES, Irmine TEHEI, Angele TEROROTUA, Johanna NOUVEAU, Patrick AMARU, Louis MAMATUI and Jean-Pierre CELESTIN
note:
adopted 1993; serves as a local anthem; as a territory of France, "La Marseillaise" is official (see France)
Government - note:
under certain acts of France, French Polynesia has acquired autonomy in all areas except those relating to police and justice, monetary policy, tertiary education, immigration, and defense and foreign affairs; the duties of its president are fashioned after those of the French prime minister
NOTE: 1) The information regarding French Polynesia on this page is re-published from the 2014 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of French Polynesia Government 2014 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about French Polynesia Government 2014 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 06-Nov-14