Henri Gaebelé left Oulgaret and settled in Pondicherry, where he lived the rest of his life. He was quickly elected to the municipal council. Around 1890 Gaebelé was one of the founders of the opposition group commonly called the French Party. The party gained from the defection of the Vannia (farmer) caste from the Indian Party led by Chanemougam due to resentment of the arrogance of the high castes. The Vannias were over 30% of the population. The French policy of assimilation, hated by the upper castes, also helped revive the caste war. In 1892 Gaebelé was elected to the General Council of French India for the first time. During the parliamentary elections around this time the candidates, few of whom had visited India, paid local agents to ensure they were elected, and the agents hired gangs of hooligans to control the polls. The 1893 legislative elections were fought between the French Party and the Indian Party. There was widespread fraud, with many dead people on the voter lists, and much violence. In one incident Gaebelé, who was a candidate, was wounded by a bullet. In the years that followed the lower castes were oppressed under the rule of Chanemougam, the "King of French India". Gaebelé became a general councilor in 1905 and held office until his death in 1936. In 1905 he was appointed President of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also President of the Chamber of Agriculture. In the legislative elections of 6 May 1906 Gaebelé's associate, the former governor Philema Lemaire, was elected with the support of the Vannias and the Muslims. The French Party, now called the Gaebelé Party, forced Chanemougam to flee to British territory in 1906, where he died in 1908. Gaebelé was Mayor of Pondicherry from 19 September 1908 to 15 May 1928. The "Neo-Chanemougamists", the Indian party, recovered quickly from the defeat of 1906. They openly supported the Indian nationalists of British India. In the 1910 elections the violence was even worse than usual. On 24 April 1910 the Indian party's candidate, Paul Bluysen, defeated Lemaire. Acting governor Ernest Fernand Lévecque sent a telegram to the Colonial Ministry on 24 April 1910 giving the first results. He reported, "Yesterday many incidents common to Pondicherry and Mudaliarpet; scuffles, blows, violent disputes around ballot-boxes, some wounded; exchange of blows, a few mortal wounds."