| Benoît Kautai | |
| Office8: | Mayor of Nuku Hiva |
| Term Start8: | 2002 |
| Predecessor8: | Lucien Kimitete |
| Constituency Am10: | Marquesas Islands |
| Assembly10: | French Polynesian |
| Term Start10: | 6 May 2018 |
| Constituency Am11: | Marquesas Islands |
| Assembly11: | French Polynesian |
| Term Start11: | 29 January 2008 |
| Term End11: | 4 May 2013 |
| Birth Date: | 1960[1] |
| Party: | Te Henua Enata a Tu Union For Democracy Tāpura Huiraʻatira |
Benoît Kautai (born 1960) is a French Polynesian politician and Member of the Assembly of French Polynesia. He is currently mayor of Nuku Hiva. He is a member of Tāpura Huiraʻatira.
He was elected Mayor of Nuku Hiva in 2002 following the disappearance of Lucien Kimitete.[2]
He was first elected to the Assembly of French Polynesia in the 2008 French Polynesian legislative election, on the Marquesan Te Henua Enata a Tu list, which advocated for the Marquesas Islands to be split from the rest of French Polynesia.[3] He later abstained from the Assembly's 2011 vote to re-enter French Polynesia on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories.[4] He ran in the 2013 election as a candidate for the Union For Democracy (UPLD), but lost his seat.[5]
In February 2016 he attended the founding congress of the Tāpura Huiraʻatira and was elected as one of the party's vice-presidents.[6] He was re-elected to the Assembly as a Tāpura candidate in the 2018 election.[7] Shortly after the election he was charged with abuse of public funds and fraud over a roading project in Nuku Hiva.[8] In September 2018 he was convicted of both charges, fined US$50,000, and given a ten-month suspended prison sentence, but not disqualified from office.[9] [10] In December 2018 the French Polynesian government declined to seek damages from him.[11]
He was re-elected as mayor of Nuku Hiva in May 2020.[12] As mayor, he advocated for the Marquesas to become an "archipelago community" with autonomy within French Polynesia.[13] He also advocated for the Marquesas to be listed as a World Heritage Site.[14]
He was re-elected at the 2023 election.[15]