Richard Tuheiava | |
---|---|
Senator for French Polynesia | |
In office 21 September 2008 –30 September 2014 | |
Preceded by | None (Seat created) |
Succeeded by | Vincent Dubois |
Member of the French Polynesian Assembly for Windward Isles 1 | |
Assumed office 5 May 2013 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 28 February 1974 [1] Papeete,French Polynesia |
Political party | Union For Democracy Socialist Party Tavini Huiraatira |
Richard Ari'ihau Tuheiava (born 28 February 1974) is a French Polynesian lawyer and politician. He represented French Polynesia in the Senate of France from 2008 to 2014,sitting with the Socialist Party. He is now a Member of the Assembly of French Polynesia and a member of Tavini Huiraatira.
Tuheiava was born in Papeete and grew up in Raiatea and Moorea. [2] He was educated at Lycée Paul-Gauguin before studying economics at the University of French Polynesia,graduating in 1993. [2] He moved to Aix-en-Provence in France to study law,and in 1997 gained his legal degree. [2] He returned to Tahiti in 1998,where he worked as a lawyer. [2] [1] He is a member of the Human Rights League,and served as president of the Junior Economic Chamber. [2]
In March 2008 he was elected a municipal councilor for Arue on the Union For Democracy (UPLD) list. [2] In July 2008 he joined Tavini Huiraatira. [3] In August 2008 he was chosen as the UPLD's candidate in the 2008 French Senate election,running on a joint opposition ticket with Tahoera'a Huiraatira leader Gaston Flosse. [3] He was elected in the first round with 361 votes, [4] becoming the youngest person elected to the French Senate. [5] In the Senate he sat with the Socialist Party. [1] [5] Shortly after being elected he criticised the French government's plans for a nuclear compensation law as being aimed at evading responsibility. [6] He repeated the criticism in 2010,pointing out that the law excluded compensation for contaminated land and failed to meet the needs and expectations of test victims. [7] In May 2010 he complained to the French Prime Minister about the exclusion of a Tahitian delegation from a United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization meeting in New Caledonia. [8] He later denounced the colonisation of French Polynesia by France and called the colonial era a dark period of humanity's history. [9] In 2011 he called for France's nuclear compensation law to be amended to return the test sites of Moruroa and Fangataufa to French Polynesia. [10] His bill to return the atolls was passed by the Senate in 2012, [11] but had not yet been debated by the French National Assembly by the time it was meant to take effect in 2014. [12] He contested the 2014 French Senate election for the UPLD, [13] but lost to Vincent Dubois in the first round. [14] Following the nullification of the 2014 Senate election he contested the resulting by-election, [15] but was unsuccessful.
He was elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia on the UPLD list at the 2013 French Polynesian legislative election. [16] He stood as a Tavini candidate in French Polynesia's 1st constituency at the 2017 French legislative election, [17] but was eliminated in the first round. [18] He was re-elected to the Assembly as a Tavini candidate in the 2018 election. [19]
In November 2009 he was banned from practicing law for two years for taking money from clients without doing any work. [20] The decision was upheld by the Court of Cassation in 2012. [21] [22]
In March 2012 he was charged with forgery over legal work he had done between 2006 and 2009. [23] He denounced the charges as "a political move guided by Paris". [23] The charges were dismissed in August 2012. [24]