New Caledonia. Short majority in favor of the self-determination referendum on

The date of December 12 for the holding of the third self-determination referendum is not unanimous in New Caledonia. The elected representatives of the New Caledonian Congress gave by a narrow majority a favorable opinion for this date. The deliberative assembly of the archipelago was consulted on the draft decree convening the voters and the organization of this consultation, of which the date was announced in early June in Paris by the Minister of Overseas Affairs, Sébastien Lecornu, and is due to be taken to the Council of Ministers on 30 June.

A prerogative of the government, the choice of this date was made at the end of a week of discussions in Paris at the invitation of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Overseas France with loyalist and independence delegations on the political future of New Caledonia. This is the third and last referendum in the decolonization process of the Noumea Accord (1998). The first two, on November 4, 2018 and October 4, 2020, were won by the pro-France with 56.7% and then 53.3% of the vote.

The independence coalition preferred September 2022

On Wednesday, only the non-independence elected representatives (18 from the Avenir en Confidence group (AEC) and 6 from Calédonie Ensemble, center right) as well as the three elected representatives of the Oceanian Awakening, a non-aligned Polynesian party, issued a favorable opinion on the draft decree. That is 28 votes out of a total of 54.

In the independence ranks, the 12 members of the UNI-FLNKS, a group that had shunned Parisian exchanges, joined by two elected officials from small groups voted against this project while 12 elected members of the Union Calédonienne (UC), the other component of the FLNKS, abstained. The independence coalition was campaigning for a poll in September 2022, within the legal deadline.

“I don’t know what we are rushing into”

“This date is not good at all. I don’t know what we are rushing into ”, tackled Louis Mapou, head of the UNI-FLNKS group, fearing that the Caledonian issue would become a national political issue “While the presidential campaign has already left”. He also said to himself “Very worried about the package” decided in Paris, “Which is already the subject of divergent interpretations”.

Sébastien Lecornu announced that at the end of the referendum on December 12, whatever the outcome, it will open a “Period of convergence” in view of a “Project referendum in June 2023” . The Caledonian Union, whose leaders welcomed recent discussions with the state without validating the results, denounced Wednesday “The arbitrary and hasty decision” of Paris, some elected officials going so far as to mention “A boycott” of the ballot.

On the other hand, Virginie Ruffenach, head of the AEC group, in favor of a poll “As soon as possible to get out of the uncertainties”, saluted “The choice of the state” as well as the calendar until 2023, which “Carries the hope of the end of the politics of the worst and of the struggles between us which no longer have any meaning”. For the Calédonie Ensemble group, Philippe Michel was also delighted with this date, which will then allow “To resume the dialogue according to the choice of the Caledonians”.

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