WELLINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- French Polynesia's lawmakers on Friday elected Edouard Fritch as Speaker in the French Pacific territory legislature, in the wake of the election of pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru as president, the Oceania Flash reported.

    Fritch, who is the co-president of pro-French Tahoeraa Huiraatira party, received 38 votes from 57 MPs. He replaced Temaru, who was the Speaker until his election at the top post on Thursday.

    Fritch's election is part of the new coalition agreement that brought Temaru to power this week.

    Fritch has been Speaker of the House on several occasions and more recently last year, under a brief Flosse government that was ousted in a motion of no confidence after less than two months in power.

    After his election, Fritch once again stressed that the new parliamentary majority was the largest in French Polynesia in a very long time.

    Fritch also reiterated that the new majority, with its strong base, intended to work on the French Pacific territory's economic recovery

    French Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, including the famous island of Tahiti.