| Office2: | Senator for French Polynesia |
| Term Start2: | 1962 |
| Term End2: | 1971 |
| Predecessor2: | Gérald Coppenrath |
| Successor2: | Pouvanaa a Oopa |
| Office4: | Mayor of Papeete |
| Term Start4: | 1 September 1942 |
| Term End4: | 9 October 1966 |
| Predecessor4: | Léonce Brault |
| Successor4: | Georges Pambrun |
| Constituency Am10: | Windward Islands |
| Assembly10: | French Polynesian |
| Term Start10: | 3 November 1957 |
| Term End10: | 9 September 1972 |
| Constituency Am11: | Papeete |
| Assembly11: | French Polynesian |
| Term Start11: | 1946 |
| Term End11: | 3 November 1957 |
| Birth Date: | 3 March 1906[1] |
| Birth Place: | Mataiea, French Polynesia |
| Death Place: | Pirae, French Polynesia |
| Party: | Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance Tahitian Union |
Alfred Ernest Teraireia Poroi (3 March 1906—27 August 1994) was a French Polynesian politician who represented French Polynesia in the French Senate from 1962 to 1971.
Poroi was born in Mataiea on Tahiti and educated at l’école Viénot in Papeete.[2] After working in the shipping industry, he was appointed manager of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand's Papeete operations.[1] In 1934 he was one of the founders of the Radio-Club Océanien, which ran the first radio station in Tahiti, and later served as its president.[1] [3] In 1946 he founded a travel agency, Travel Poroi.
In 1935 he was elected as a municipal councilor of Papeete. In 1941 when the council was dissolved and replaced by a commission he was appointed 1st deputy.[2] In September 1942 he was appointed mayor following the resignation of Léonce Brault.[4] He won the subsequent mayoral elections in August 1945 and was constantly re-elected until 1966.[1]
He was first elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 1945–46 French Oceanian legislative election. He was re-elected in the 1953 French Oceanian legislative election, with members of his Union for the Defence of the Interests of French Oceania coalition winning all five seats in Papeete.[5] Following a dispute in the Assembly on 10 April 1953, a fight broke out between Poroi and Noël Ilari. Ilari then challenged Poroi to a duel, which Poroi agreed should take place at the end of the day. The duel ultimately did not occur, after Governor René Petitbon broadcast a radio message forbidding it and stationed police at the homes of the participants.[6] He was re-elected in the 1957 election as a member of Rudy Bambridge's Tahitian Union. Following riots over income tax which overthrew the elected government of Pouvanaa a Oopa,[7] he was appointed head of a new government by Governor Camille Victor Bailly.[8]
In 1962 a split in the Tahitian Union saw Bambridge and Coppenrath depart. Poroi then contested Coppenrath's senate seat, winning election in the second round.[1] [9] In the subsequent 1962 Assembly elections he formed a coalition with the Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People.[2]
In 1966 he lost the Papeete mayoralty to an anti-nuclear candidate, Georges Pambrun.[10] [11]
He was re-elected to the Assembly in the 1967 election.[12]
He did not run for re-election to the Senate in 1971, and was succeeded by Pouvanaa a Oopa.[1] He retired from politics in 1972.[2]
In 1952 he was awarded the Legion of Honour.[13] He was also a Commander of the Ordre national du Mérite and Officer of the Ordre des Palmes académiques.[1]