Veylma Falaeo

Falaeo was born on 24 August 1982 in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia.^[1][2] Her family comes from Wallis and Futuna and her father was a Nouméa municipal councilman.^[1][3] She is the eldest of three children and grew up in the district of Rivière-Salée.^[3] She entered the University of New Caledonia at age 18 where she received two degrees, one in public administration and the other in economics and management.^[1]

Falaeo became a civil servant in 2009, first working at the l’Institut de Formation à l'Administration Publique (Public Administration Training Institute, IFAP), then the l’Institut pour le Développement des Compétences en Nouvelle-Calédonie (Institute for the Development of Skills in New Caledonia, IDCNC) and the Direction de la Formation Professionnelle Continue (Continuing Professional Training Department, DFPC).^[2] She also worked during this time as a Zumba teacher.^[2]

In 2019, Falaeo co-founded the political party L'Éveil océanien (Oceanian Awakening, EO) with Milakulo Tukumuli.^[2] The party is centrist and focuses on the rights of Wallisians in New Caledonia.^[1][2] She ran for the Congress of New Caledonia that year as part of the party and won election, being one of three seats won by the party.^[1] Although the party only has three of 54 seats in the Congress, it has been called the "party of kingmakers" as it has the ability to give either the pro-independence or anti-independence sides a narrow majority in congress.^[1]

Falaeo ran for mayor of Nouméa in 2020, placing fourth with 2,000 votes.^[1] In 2022, she became the secretary general of the Oceanian Awakening party.^[1] In August 2024, she became a candidate in the election for President of the Congress of New Caledonia after Roch Wamytan was narrowly ousted by a vote of 28–26.^[4] She received the support of the anti-independence faction and was elected by one vote over Wamytan.^[5][6] Falaeo became the first woman elected to the position.^[7] Her election came in the midst of New Caledonia being in a major unrest between pro- and anti-independence groups, with Falaeo pledging to "pursue a middle-way approach to governance."^[4]