New Caledonia says ‘no’ to independence again

The French overseas territory of New Caledonia voted “no” to independence in a nationwide referendum. While the no vote won by a large margin, the turnout was meagre.

Some 96.49% of New Caledonian voters wanted to remain a part of France, while just 43.9% of the population cast a ballot. The archipelago sits over 2,000 kilometres from the Australian coast but has been a part of France since 1853.

However, tensions were high in recent weeks after the pro-independence side, which called the referendum, asked to postpone it. They argued it was impossible to conduct a “fair” campaign in the context of the pandemic.

“Tonight, France is more beautiful because New Caledonia has decided to stay,” said French President Emmanuel Macron following the announcement of the results.

This is the third victory for supporters of French New Caledonia, after a ‘no’ vote in 2018 and October 2020, as provided for in the Noumea agreement signed in 1988.

“New Caledonia will therefore remain French”, added Macron. Paris was particularly keen to keep the archipelago, the European Union’s only presence in the Pacific, and home to nearly 10% of the world’s nickel reserves.

“This choice is a source of pride and recognition,” said the president, calling on the state and local institutions to work more closely together in the face of a “deeply divided electorate”.

“For us, this is not the third referendum. We consider that in terms of legal and political legitimacy, there are only two referendums, 2018 and 2020. This one is the referendum of the French state and its supporters in New Caledonia, not ours,” Roch Wamytan, pro-independence president of the Congress of New Caledonia, said on Franceinfo.

(Mathieu Pollet | EURACTIV.fr)