Nuihau Laurey

Nuihau Laurey (born 29 December 1964)[1] is a French Polynesian politician and former Cabinet Minister. He was vice-president of French Polynesia from 2014-2017 and one of the two senators for French Polynesia from 2015 to 2020. He was acting president of French Polynesia in 2014 between Gaston Flosse and Édouard Fritch's presidencies.[2]

Nuihau Laurey
Senator for French Polynesia
In office
5 May 2015 – 27 September 2020
Preceded byVincent Dubois
Succeeded byTeva Rohfritsch
Vice-President of French Polynesia
In office
16 September 2014 – 13 January 2017
PresidentGaston Flosse
Édouard Fritch
Preceded byAntony Géros
Succeeded byTeva Rohfritsch
Minister of Economy and Finance, Budget, Civil Service, Enterprise, Industry and Export Promotion
In office
16 September 2014 – 28 February 2017
PresidentÉdouard Fritch
Succeeded byTeva Rohfritsch (Economy and Finance)
Minister of Economy, Finance, Budget and Labour
In office
17 May 2013 – 16 September 2014
PresidentGaston Flosse
Member of the French Polynesian Assembly
for Windward Isles 3
Assumed office
7 May 2013
Personal details
Born (1964-12-29) 29 December 1964
Papeete, French Polynesia, France
Political partyA here ia Porinetia (2020–present)
Other political
affiliations		Tahoera'a Huiraatira
Tapura Huiraatira (before 2020)

Early life

Laurey worked for the government-owned Socredo bank before working as a consultant.[3] In 2009, he published Énergies renouvelables plaidoyer pour une véritable politique de l'énergie en Polynésie française (Renewable energy: Advocacy for a real energy policy in French Polynesia), published by Au Vent des Îles.[4] In 2010, he was technical advisor to Teva Rohfritsch, then Minister of Energy, before returning to work again as a conultant.[3]

Political career

He was elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 2013 French Polynesian legislative election.[5] and appointed to the Cabinet of Gaston Flosse as Vice-President and Minister of Economy, Finance, Budget and Labour.[6][3] As Finance Minister he increased taxes[7] and reduced the size of the public service.[8] He was Acting President from the dismissal of Gaston Flosse on 5 September 2014 until the election of Édouard Fritch on 12 September. He was retained as Vice-President by Fritch,[9] and continued to serve in Cabinet as Minister for the Economy and Finance, Budget, Civil Service, Enterprise, Industry and Export Promotion from 16 September 2014.[10] In March 2015 he was nominated as a candidate for the French Senate by Fritch, against the wishes of Flosse.[11] In April 2015 Flosse expelled him from Tahoera'a Huiraatira over the issue.[12] The expulsion was a significant factor in the collapse of Tahoera'a and the formation of Tapura Huiraatira.[13]

Llaurey was elected senator of French Polynesia on May 3, 2015 during a by-election.[14] He sat in the UDI-UC group in the Senate.[1] He resigned the vice-presidency on 13 January 2017[15] but retained the Ministry of Budget, Finance and Energy until 28 February 2017.

In June 2020 he left the Tapura Huiraatira party after a dispute with Edouard Fritch over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in French Polynesia.[16] He remained in the Assembly, sitting as an independent. In August 2020 he founded A here ia Porinetia with former Tapura Huiraatira MPs Nicole Sanquer, Bernard Natua, Teura Tarahu-Atuahiva, and Félix Tokoragi, as well as Tahoera'a Huiraatira MP Vaitea Le Gayic who was "loaned" by Tahoera'a.[17] The group lost its parliamentary recognition in January 2021 after Le Gayic resigned and rejoined Tahoera'a,[18][19] leaving its members as independents.

In September 2020 he failed to win re-election to the Senate, losing his seat to Teva Rohfritsch.[20]

References
  1. "LAUREY Nuihau" (in French). Sénat. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  2. "Polynésie française: Nuihau Laurey, figure du gouvernement, démissionne" (in French). Outremers 360. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  3. "Le gouvernement de la Polynésie française Présidence de la Polynésie française" (in French). 21 May 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  4. "Laurey, Nuihau (1964- ...)". World Cat. World Cat. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  5. "Edouard Fritch confirme la démission de Nuihau Laurey" (in French). Tahiti infos. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  6. "Flosse elected as French Polynesia president for fifth time". RNZ. 18 May 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  7. "French Polynesian government outlines tax reform". RNZ. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  8. "Public sector job cuts announced in French Polynesia". RNZ. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  9. "New govt in French Polynesia named". RNZ. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  10. "Le gouvernement de la Polynésie française" (in French). Présidence de la Polynésie française. 16 September 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014.
  11. "Open rift in ruling party in French Polynesia". RNZ. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  12. "Tahiti vice president expelled from own party". RNZ. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  13. "Ruling Tahiti party loses assembly majority". RNZ. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  14. "Tahiti elects new French Senators". RNZ. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  15. "Tahiti Finance Minister Laurey Resigns". Radio New Zealand. RNZ. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  16. "Laurey leaves French Polynesia's ruling party". RNZ. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  17. "Un quatrième groupe à l'assemblée" (in French). DomTom News. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  18. "Le groupe A Here Ia Porinetia n'est officiellement plus constitué" (in French). Tahiti News. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  19. "Vaitea Le Gayic retourne au Tahoera'a, le groupe A Here Ia Porinetia disparaît" (in French). 360 Tahiti. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  20. "Tapura retains Tahiti's two seats in French Senate". RNZ. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
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