Jacques Tauraa

Jacques Tauraa (4 February 1920 – 12 February 1980) was a French Polynesian politician and Cabinet Minister who was the longest-serving president of the Assembly of French Polynesia. He was a member of the Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People (RDPT).

Jacques Tauraa
President of the Assembly of French Polynesia
In office 6 November 1962 – 17 May 1968
Preceded by	Frantz Vanizette
Succeeded by	Jean Millaud
In office 20 May 1959 – 2 March 1961
Preceded by	Georges Leboucher
Succeeded by	Frantz Vanizette
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office 11 December 1957 – 28 October 1958
President	Pouvanaa a Oopa
Member of the French Polynesian Assembly for Windward Islands
In office 3 November 1957 – 16 May 1968
Personal details
Born	4 February 1920[1] Papeete, French Polynesia[1]
Died	12 February 1980[1] Nouméa, New Caledonia[1]
Political party	Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People Here Ai'a

Tauraa was born in Papeete and was a farmer.^[1] He was president of the Chamber of Agriculture until 1957, when his membership of the pro-independence Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People caused him to lose the position.^[1]

He was elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 1957 French Polynesian legislative election and appointed Minister of Economic Affairs in the government of Pouvanaa a Oopa.^[1][2] He opposed a "no" (pro-independence) vote in the 1958 French Polynesian constitutional referendum.^[1] He lost his position as a Minister when the French colonial government dissolved Oopa's government following the referendum, but was subsequently elected by the Assembly to the resulting interim government.^[3] In May 1959 he was elected president of the Assembly.^[1]

Following Oopa's prosecution, conviction and exile for arson he became the leader of the RDPT.^[4] He was re-elected in the 1962 election and elected president of the Assembly, a position he held for the next six years.^[1] As president of the Assembly, Tauraa opposed the use of French Polynesia as a nuclear test site.^[5][6] He also supported an income tax to provide financial independence from France.^[7]

Following the dissolution of the RDPT by the colonial authorities, Tauraa joined Teariki's Here Ai'a.^[1] A dispute with Teariki over who the party should back in the 1965 French presidential election saw Tauraa and many of the RDPT's MP's expelled from the party in 1966.^[1] In 1967 he founded a new party, the Regrouping of the Tahitian People, to contest the 1967 election, but failed to secure re-election.^[8]