Jacqui Drollet (born 22 November 1944) is a French Polynesian politician, independence campaigner, and former Cabinet Minister. He was Minister of Health from 1987 to 1991, and President of the Assembly of French Polynesia from 14 April 2011 to 16 May 2013.[1]

Jacqui Drollet
President of the Assembly of French Polynesia
In office
14 April 2011 – 16 May 2013
Preceded byOscar Temaru
Succeeded byÉdouard Fritch
Vice-President of French Polynesia
In office
3 March 2005 – 26 December 2006
PresidentOscar Temaru
Preceded byÉdouard Fritch
Succeeded byTemauri Foster
In office
14 June 2004 – 23 October 2004
PresidentOscar Temaru
Preceded byÉdouard Fritch
Succeeded byÉdouard Fritch
Minister of Health, Environment, and Scientific Research
In office
10 December 1987 – 4 April 1991
PresidentAlexandre Léontieff
Preceded byLysis Lavigne
Succeeded byMichel Buillard (Health)
Pierre Dehors (environment)
Member of the French Polynesian Assembly
for Windward Isles
In office
13 February 2005 – 16 May 2018
In office
12 May 1996 – 5 May 2001
In office
23 May 1982 – 17 March 1991
Personal details
Born (1944-11-22) 22 November 1944 (age 79)
Papeete, French Polynesia
Political partyIa Mana te Nunaa
Tavini Huiraatira

Drollet was educated as a marine biologist at the University of Toulouse.[2] In 1975 he founded Ia Mana te Nunaa ("Power to the People"), a radical pro-independence party opposed to nuclear testing.[3][4] He was first elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 1982 French Polynesian legislative election, when Ia Mana won three seats.[5][6] In August 1982 he ran in a by-election for Deputy to the French National Assembly, coming third.[7] He was re-elected in 1986,[5] and when Alexandre Léontieff became president in 1987, was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Health, Environment, and Scientific Research.[5][8][3] As Health Minister he organised a conference on the impact of French nuclear testing, and campaigned for the collection of cancer statistics so the health effects could be monitored.[2][9] He lost his seat in the Assembly in the 1991 election.[10]

He was re-elected to the Assembly on the Tavini Huiraatira list in the 1996 election, but lost his seat again in 2001.[5] In June 2004 he was appointed vice-president in the government of Oscar Temaru.[11] He was replaced as vice-president in October 2004 when Temaru lost a confidence vote to Gaston Flosse.[12] He was reappointed as Vice-President when Temaru regained power in March 2005.[13] He surrendered the position as part of a coalition realignment in April 2006.[14] He was later appointed telecommunications and culture minister in Temaru's 2007 government,[15] and minister of tourism in Temaru's 2009 government.[16]

While in opposition in 2010 he introduced and passed a bill in the Assembly limiting foreign investment in telecommunications in French Polynesia, effectively thwarting a plan by mobile phone company Digicel to enter the local market.[17][18]

In April 2011 he was elected President of the Assembly.[19] In February 2012 he was found to have publicly maligned two female opposition MPs and ordered to pay each of them US$2,000.[20] In March 2013 he established a regional grouping of Polynesian parliaments.[21] In July 2014 when President Gaston Flosse was convicted of corruption and banned from public office he wrote an open letter to French President François Hollande urging him to apply the law and dismiss Flosse from the Presidency.[22]

He retired from politics in 2017.[23][24]

In January 1997 he was appointed a commander of the Order of Tahiti Nui.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Le président" (in French). Assemblée de la Polynésie française. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Mururoa Moves Shock Paris". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 59, no. 9. 1 September 1988. p. 33. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b "Le bombe looms over Tahiti". Canberra Times. 4 June 1988. p. 15. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Ia Mana Te Nunaa, a new political force in French Polynesia". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 53, no. 8. 1 August 1982. p. 21-23. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ a b c d "Les élus de l'assemblée territoriale" (in French). Assemblée de la Polynésie française. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Paradise Lost". Canberra Times. 22 February 1986. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Flosse's Man Romps Home in Tahiti". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 53, no. 10. 1 October 1982. p. 7. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "FRENCH POLYNESIA A New Order Takes Charge". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 59, no. 2. 1 February 1988. p. 8-10. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Explosions in Paradise". Canberra Times. 28 April 1990. p. 17. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Flosse in surprising comeback". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 61, no. 4. 1 April 1991. p. 18. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "New French Polynesian government line-up announced". RNZ. 17 June 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Still unclear whether French Polynesian MPs will be able to elect a new President tomorrow". RNZ. 25 October 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  13. ^ "New French Polynesian government to look into money transfers and GIP force". RNZ. 10 March 2005. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  14. ^ "French Polynesian government shake-up restores Temaru's majority". RNZ. 20 April 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  15. ^ "French Polynesia's Temaru presents new government". RNZ. 20 September 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  16. ^ "French Polynesia's newly-elected President finalises his Cabinet". RNZ. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Digicel's plans for French Polynesia put on hold after bill passed by assembly". RNZ. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  18. ^ "French Polynesia minister appalled at Digicel vote". RNZ. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  19. ^ "Drollet becomes new French Polynesia assembly president". RNZ. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  20. ^ "French Polynesia speaker fined for maligning opposition politicians". RNZ. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Polynesia parliamentary group formed in Tahit". RNZ. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  22. ^ "Hollande urged to apply law in Tahiti". RNZ. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  23. ^ "Polynésie Française: Jacqui Drollet met fin à sa carrière politique" (in French). Outremers 360. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  24. ^ "Jacqui Drollet passe la main aux jeunes" (in French). FranceInfo. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  25. ^ "LISTE DES TITULAIRES". 21 July 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2022.