| Office9: | Senator for French Polynesia |
| Term Start9: | 21 September 2008 |
| Term End9: | 30 September 2014 |
| Predecessor9: | None (Seat created) |
| Successor9: | Vincent Dubois |
| Constituency Am10: | Windward Isles 1 |
| Assembly10: | French Polynesian |
| Term Start10: | 5 May 2013 |
| Birth Date: | 28 February 1974[1] |
| Birth Place: | Papeete, French Polynesia |
| Party: | Union For Democracy Socialist Party Tavini Huiraatira |
Richard Ari'ihau Tuheiava (born 28 February 1974) is a French Polynesian lawyer and politician. He represented French Polynesia in the Senate of France from 2008 to 2014, sitting with the Socialist Party. He is now a Member of the Assembly of French Polynesia and a member of Tavini Huiraatira.
Tuheiava was born in Papeete and grew up in Raiatea and Moorea.[2] He was educated at Lycée Paul-Gauguin before studying economics at the University of French Polynesia, graduating in 1993.[2] He moved to Aix-en-Provence in France to study law, and in 1997 gained his legal degree.[2] He returned to Tahiti in 1998, where he worked as a lawyer.[2] [1] He is a member of the Human Rights League, and served as president of the Junior Economic Chamber.[2]
In March 2008 he was elected a municipal councilor for Arue on the Union For Democracy (UPLD) list.[2] In July 2008 he joined Tavini Huiraatira.[3] In August 2008 he was chosen as the UPLD's candidate in the 2008 French Senate election, running on a joint opposition ticket with Tahoera'a Huiraatira leader Gaston Flosse.[3] He was elected in the first round with 361 votes,[4] becoming the youngest person elected to the French Senate.[5] In the Senate he sat with the Socialist Party.[1] [5] Shortly after being elected he criticised the French government's plans for a nuclear compensation law as being aimed at evading responsibility.[6] He repeated the criticism in 2010, pointing out that the law excluded compensation for contaminated land and failed to meet the needs and expectations of test victims.[7] In May 2010 he complained to the French Prime Minister about the exclusion of a Tahitian delegation from a United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization meeting in New Caledonia.[8] He later denounced the colonisation of French Polynesia by France and called the colonial era a dark period of humanity's history.[9] In 2011 he called for France's nuclear compensation law to be amended to return the test sites of Moruroa and Fangataufa to French Polynesia.[10] His bill to return the atolls was passed by the Senate in 2012,[11] but had not yet been debated by the French National Assembly by the time it was meant to take effect in 2014.[12] He contested the 2014 French Senate election for the UPLD,[13] but lost to Vincent Dubois in the first round.[14] Following the nullification of the 2014 Senate election he contested the resulting by-election,[15] but was unsuccessful.
He was elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia on the UPLD list at the 2013 French Polynesian legislative election.[16] He stood as a Tavini candidate in French Polynesia's 1st constituency at the 2017 French legislative election,[17] but was eliminated in the first round.[18] He was re-elected to the Assembly as a Tavini candidate in the 2018 election.[19]
In November 2009 he was banned from practicing law for two years for taking money from clients without doing any work.[20] The decision was upheld by the Court of Cassation in 2012.[21] [22]
In March 2012 he was charged with forgery over legal work he had done between 2006 and 2009.[23] He denounced the charges as "a political move guided by Paris".[23] The charges were dismissed in August 2012.[24]