France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table.

The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which disqualified around 20,000 French citizens who had not resided in the territory before 1998 from voting in the provincial elections.

The restrictions were viewed as a step to ensure indigenous Kanaks were not at risk of becoming a minority in their own country.

However, the Paris decision by Paris to move ahead with the changes last year triggered five months of civil unrest that has cost the New Caledonian economy more than 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4 billion).

The constitutional reforms were initially suspended in June, before the former Prime Minister Michel Barnier abandoned them.

However, this week, France’s Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, confirmed that the French Overseas Minister Manuel Valls is set to discuss the issue during next week’s high-level visit to Nouméa.

She said a date for the provincial elections, to be held at the end of this year, is also in the works.

Unfreezing of lists
“The provincial elections were due in December last year, and because there was discussion on the unfreezing of the electoral lists, the whole process was stopped,” Roger-Lacan said at a press briefing in Wellington.

“The discussion on the unfreezing of the electoral list for the provincial elections continues.”

She said in a normal democratic system, everyone who pays taxes has the right to vote.

“Because when you pay taxes to a government, you have the choice of the government [to whom] you give your money. [In New Caledonia] there is a discrepancy,” she said.

“This was one point of contention that led to the riots.”

She said the French constitution states that if any of its overseas territories want self-determination, “they can have it”.

Self-determination is defined by the United Nations as either independence, state association (as in the Cook Islands), or integration within an already independent country, which is the case in New Caledonia, she said.

Peaceful choice
“They can choose peacefully among those three solutions. But no riots, no insurrection.”

Roger-Lacan pointed out that there was a “strong split” within the pro-independence groups in New Caledonia.

She said there was a part of the pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) who realised that “this discussion on the unfreezing of the electoral list does not make sense”.

“They agree that the unfreezing of this electoral list is the way to go. What are the criteria for the deferring of this electoral listing are a case of discussion.”

Roger-Lacan added that the provincial elections must take place before Christmas Day.

“The question is: with what type of electoral list they will take place.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French Pacific results for the first round of French national snap elections yesterday showed a firm radicalisation, especially in the case of New Caledonia.

In both of New Caledonia’s constituencies, the second round will look like a showdown between pro-independence and pro-France contestants.

The French Pacific entity has been gripped by ongoing riots, arson and destruction since mid-May 2024.

Local outcomes of the national polls have confirmed a block-to-block, confrontational logic, between the most radical components of the opposing camps, the pro-independence and the pro-France (loyalists).

Pro-France leader Nicolas Metzdorf, who is a staunch advocate of the still-unimplemented controversial constitutional reform that is perceived to marginalise indigenous Kanaks’ vote and therefore sparked the current unrest in the French Pacific territory, obtained 39.81 percent of the votes in New Caledonia’s 1st constituency.

In the capital Nouméa, which has been suffering massive damage from the riots, he even received the support of 53.64 percent of the voters.

Also vying for the seat in the French National Assembly, the other candidate qualifying for the second round of vote (on Sunday 7 July) is pro-independence Omayra Naisseline, who belongs to Union Calédonienne, perceived as a hard-line component of the pro-independence platform FLNKS.

She obtained 36.34 percent of the votes.

Outgoing MP Philippe Dunoyer, a moderate pro-France politician, is now out of the race after collecting only 10.33 percent of the votes.

For New Caledonia’s second constituency, pro-independence Emmanuel Tjibaou topped the poll with an impressive 44.06 percent of the votes.

Tjibaou is the son of emblematic Kanak pro-independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a dominant figure who signed the Matignon-Oudinot Accord in 1988 with pro-France leader Jacques Lafleur, ending half a decade of civil war over the Kanak pro-independence cause.

In 1989, Tjibaou was assassinated by a hard-line member of his own movement.

Second to Tjibaou is Alcide Ponga, also an indigenous Kanak who was recently elected president of the pro-France Rassemblement-Les républicains party (36.18 percent).

Another candidate from the Eveil Océanien (mostly supported by the Wallisian community in New Caledonia), Milakulo Tukumuli, came third with 11.92 percent but does not qualify to contest in the second round.

In New Caledonia, polling on Sunday took place under heavy security and at least one incident was reported in Houaïlou, where car wrecks were placed in front of the polling stations, barring access to voters.

However, participation was very high on Sunday: 60.02 percent of the registered voters turned out, which is almost twice as much as the recorded rate at the previous general elections in 2022 (32.51 percent).

Candidates for the ruling Tavini Huiraatira, for this first round of polls, managed to make it to the second round, like Steve Chailloux (second constituency, 41.61 percent) or Mereana Reid-Arbelot (third constituency, 42.71 percent) who will still have to fight in the second round to retain her seat in the French National Assembly against pro-autonomy Pascale Haiti (41.08 percent), who is the wife of long-time pro-France former president Gaston Flosse).

Chailloux, however, did not fare so well as his direct opponent, pro-autonomy platform and A Here ia Porinetia leader Nicole Sanquer, who collected 49.62 percent of the votes.

But those parties opposing independence, locally known as the “pro-autonomy”, had fielded their candidates under a common platform.

This is the case for Moerani Frébault, from the Marquesas Islands, who managed to secure 53.90 percent of the votes and is therefore declared winner without having to contest the second round.

His victory ejected the pro-independence outgoing MP Tematai Le Gayic (Tavini party, 1st constituency), even though he had collected 36.3 percent of the votes.

Wallis and Futuna
Incumbent MP Mikaele Seo (Renaissance, French President Macron’s party) breezes through against the other three contestants and obtained 61 percent of the votes and therefore is directly elected as a result of the first round for the seat at the Paris National Assembly.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu’s Elections Minister Johnny Koanapo is urging every Ni-Vanuatu person living in New Caledonia to take part in the upcoming vote for the national referendum next Wednesday.

He highlighted that the current situation in New Caledonia presented exceptional circumstances that could impact on people’s participation on polling day — May 29 — but recent adopted amendments to the Referendum Act address any special circumstances that may arise.

The amendment to the referendum act states, “The Electoral Commission may, on the advice of the Principal Electoral Officer, extend the timing and date of voting in specified polling stations if the Electoral Commission is satisfied that there are special circumstances in those locations.”

Koanapo said the Vanuatu Electoral Commission would collaborate with the government of New Caledonia through the Vanuatu Consulate-General in Nouméa to ensure that Vanuatu citizens residing in New Caledonia can participate in the referendum.

“We want to make sure that all Vanuatu citizens living in New Caledonia can exercise their rights and participate in this national referendum,” he said.

Tensly Sumbe is a Vanuatu Daily Post reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz