Winfred Édouard Tereori Fritch (born 4 January 1952) is a French politician who has served as President of French Polynesia since 2014. 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. He lost the 2008 election, but remained a municipal councillor. He was subsequently reelected to the mayorship in 2014. Career Born in Papeete, Fritch graduated from the École des ingénieurs de la Ville de Paris. He came back from metropolitan France in 1980 to work for the commune of Pirae. 2004 French Polynesian legislative election 2008 French Polynesian legislative election The 2008 French Polynesian legislative election took place on January 27, 2008, and February 10, 2008. The pro-French political of former President Gaston Tong Sang, O Porinetia To Tatou Ai'a, secured 27 of the 57 seats in the new French Polynesian Assembly. Fritch's Tahoeraa Huiraatira party won 10 seats. Negotiations between Fritch and Tong Sang reportedly broke down earlier in the week of February 17. Tong Sang said that he was prepared to offer Fritch's Tahoeraa Huiraatira party the Speaker of the Assembly, as well as 4 of the 15 ministerial posts, should he form a new government. Fritch refused Tong Sang's offer, saying that he wanted no less than five ministerial positions. However, the two sides finally reached an eleventh-hour deal between Tong Sang's O Porinetia To Tatou Ai'a party and the Tahoeraa Huiraatira to form a new pro-French coalition in the Assembly. On Thursday, February 21, 2008, Tong Sang announced that he had offered Fritch's Tahoeraa Huiraatira five ministerial positions, which Fritch had wanted, plus the Speakership of the Assembly and the chairmanships of three parliamentary committees. Fritch was re-elected as the President of