The elected representatives of the Congress of New Caledonia gave by a narrow majority an opinion in favor of the holding of the third self-determination referendum on December 12, following abstention or opposition from the separatists.
The deliberative assembly of the archipelago was consulted on the draft decree convening voters and organizing this consultation, the date of which was announced in early June in Paris by the overseas minister, Sébastien Lecornu, and which must be taken in the Council of Ministers on June 30.
28 votes out of 54
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. 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 of Overseas France with loyalist and independence delegations on the political future of New Caledonia.
This 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 officials from the Oceanian Awakening, a non-aligned Polynesian party, gave a favorable opinion on the project. of decree. That is 28 votes out of a total of 54.
Towards a national issue?
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.
“This date is not good at all. I do not know what we are rushing into “, tackled Louis Mapou, head of the UNI-FLNKS group, fearing that the Caledonian issue will become a national political issue” while the presidential campaign has already left “.
A controversial choice
He also said he was “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 of December 12, whatever the result, a “period of convergence” would open with a view to a “project referendum in June 2023”.
The UC, whose leaders welcomed the recent discussions with the State without validating the results, denounced this 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, favorable to a ballot “as soon as possible to get out of the uncertainties”, welcomed “the choice of the State” as well as the calendar until 2023, which “carries hope of the end of the policy 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”.