Background
Gomès was born in Algiers, Algeria.
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Philippe Gomes
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University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.
Career
He was appointed by the Congress of New Caledonia after the provincial election held on May 10, 2009. In the Government, 7 of the 11 members come from those pro-France parties. Then, Philippe Gomès became president of the South Province, by far the most economically developed and most urbanized part of New Caledonia.
He was also mayor of Louisiana Foa, a rural commune on the West Coast of Grande Terre (the main island of the archipelago), from 1989 to 2008.
In this village, he notably created an annual film festival, the first and the only one in New Caledonia. Its first president was the French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and among his successors have included Claude Pinoteau, Jane Campion, Claude Brasseur or Patrice Leconte.
Since March 2011, he served in the New Caledonia Government, as minister for Transfers of civil security, civil and commercial rules, and of civil status. He joined the Union of Democrats and Independents group in the National Assembly, chaired by former minister Jean-Louis Borloo.
Politics
He is backed by a wide coalition of the four main loyalists (ie anti-independence) parties that control 36 of the 54 seats in the Congress, now political allies after having fought each other during the campaign: The Rally–Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Caledonia Together (Gomès" party), Future Together and Movement for Diversity.
Membership
A former member of RPCR (older name of The Rally–Universiti Malaysia Pahang and historical anti-independence party in New Caledonia), Gomès left it in 2004 to found with others dissidents (like Marie-Noëlle Thémereau or Harold Martin) the Future Together (Avenir ensemble) party that defeated RPCR in the provincial election on May 9, 2004. After a conflict between him and some members of the party, including Harold Martin or Didier Leroux, he entered again in dissent, leaving Future Together to create his own movement called Caledonia Together (Calédonie ensemble). On 17 June 2012, he was elected as member of the National Assembly of France in the 2nd constituency of New Caledonia.
