Michel Buillard

Michel Buillard (born 9 September 1950) is a French Polynesian politician and former Cabinet Minister. Since 1995 he has served as the mayor of Papeete. He was deputy of the National Assembly of France for French Polynesia's 1st constituency from 1997 to 2012. In the National Assembly, he was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.

In 1983, he was appointed Director of the Territorial Office for Health and Social Action (OTASS). That same year saw his entry into politics in the Tahoeraa Huiraatira and his election to the municipal council of Pirae in the team of Gaston Flosse. He was re-elected in 2002 and again in 2007. He did not run again in 2012.

He was re-elected mayor of Papeete in 2001, 2008, 2014, and 2020.

In 2006 he was convicted of misusing public funds, alongside other members of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira party. In April 2017 he and the other defendants were ordered to jointly repay US$2.1 million. In October 2011 he was convicted in the "phantom jobs" scandal, and barred from public office for three years.

In February 2008, just before the second round of voting in the 2008 French Polynesian legislative election, he quit as a member of Tahoeraa Huiraatira.

In May 2013, he was elected representative to the French Polynesia Assembly on the Tahoeraa Huiraatira list, then chair of the Committee on Institutions, International and European Affairs, Solidarity, Employment and Relations with the Commons. In April 2015 he was expelled from the party.

In September 2013, he published Tamarii Tahiti, a collection of memories of childhood and youth (Mahana - Les Éditions du Soleil - Tahiti).

In November 2021 he suffered a fall and was hospitalised while on vacation in Nice. He returned to French Polynesia in June 2022.

He was re-elected to the Assembly in the 2023 election.