Person
Édouard Fritch
rench Polynesian politician who served as President of French Polynesia
Winfred Édouard Tereori Fritch (French pronunciation: [edwaʁ fʁitʃ]; born 4 January 1952) is a French Polynesian politician who served as President of French Polynesia from 2014 to 2023. He previously presided over the Assembly of French Polynesia on three occasions: from April 2007 to February 2008, from February 2009 to April 2009 and from May 2013 to September 2014. Until 2015, Fritch was co-president of Tahoera'a Huiraatira, a pro-French political party, before he became president of the newly established Tapura Huiraatira.
He became a member of the Assembly of French Polynesia in 1986. He was reelected in 1991, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2013. He served as a cabinet minister in French Polynesia several times between 1984 and 2011. From 1996 to 2004, from 2004 to 2005, in 2008 and again from 2009 to 2011, he served as Vice President of French Polynesia under his father-in-law Gaston Flosse. From 2000 to 2008, he was Mayor of Pirae, where he succeeded Flosse.[6] He lost the 2008 election, but remained a municipal counselor. He was reelected to the mayorship in 2014.