Page 22 - IB November 2019

Politics Politics

ANOTHER REFERENDUM FOR

NEW CALEDONIA

By Nic Maclellan PT’s decision not to participate in the referendum was widely critiqued as a strategic
error. At elections last May, PT lost votes and seats in majority Kanak areas, and
New Caledonia will hold a second referendum on self-determination in early despite winning a seat in Congress, PT leader Louis Kotra Uregei soon stood down
September 2020. from the parliament.
On 10 October, the annual Committee of Signatories to the Noumea Accord On 19 October, the PT and other minor parties held a day-long seminar to debate
brought together representatives of the French government, the independence coa- their future strategy in light of the second referendum. A working group on “Kanak
lition Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) and conservative socialist independence” will prepare a report for another meeting next January. In
anti-independence parties in Paris. coming months, there will also need to be dialogue between the FLNKS and smaller
In a crucial decision, the Committee of Signatories decided that there would be a pro-independence groups, in an attempt to form a united front for the September
second referendum to be held under the provisions of the Noumea Accord. The next 2020 vote.
vote will be held on either 30 August or 6 September 2020, with electoral officials to
clarify the exact date. Ensuring referendum participation
The dates are a compromise between the wishes of the anti-independence forces, The French government has stressed that the November 2018 referendum was
who lobbied for an earlier poll in July 2020, and the FLNKS, which was seeking a conducted fairly, with registration of eligible voters monitored by United Nations
later date in November 2020. The first referendum on 4 November last year saw 56 electoral missions. Because of a long-running and unresolved dispute over who was
per cent of New Caledonians voting to stay within the French Republic, with the eligible to vote, the French government was conscious that perceptions of fraud or
‘No’ vote opening the way for another referendum (a further No to independence in maladministration could delegitimise the result.
2020 would mean that a third vote can be considered in 2022, after which all parties Conscious of international scrutiny from the United Nations, neighbouring coun-
need to go back to the drawing board). tries and a small media contingent, French officials went out of their way to dispel
If New Caledonians vote No in 2020, the third referendum cannot be held between any concerns over the administration of the polling. Despite this, both supporters
September 2021 and August 2022, during the French election season. French Pres- and opponents of independence had post-referendum criticisms of the electoral
ident Emmanuel Macron will stand for re-election in April 2022, most likely facing registration and voting process, including eligibility for their supporters, proxy voting
off against Marine Le Pen of Rassemblement national (formerly the Front national), and access to polling booths for outer island voters.
or her niece Marion Marechal, granddaughter of Front national founder Jean-Marie For last year’s referendum, there were 174,165 registered voters, but voting is not
Le Pen. compulsory. Only 141,099 people cast a valid vote on 4 November, and with an un-
After the Presidential elections, French voters will elect a new National Assembly precedented 43 per cent supporting independence, only 18,535 votes separated the
next June – and all political forces in New Caledonia agree that their future political Yes and No vote. For this reason, with a pool of another 33,066 registered voters and
status should not become further entangled in a bitter electoral dispute in France. For many 18-year-olds reaching the age for registration next year, each camp is working
Philippe Michel of the anti-independence party Calédonie Ensemble: “The worst to ensure that the rules favour their constituency.
thing would be for the third referendum to be held in the months leading up to a Before last month’s meeting in Paris, members of the anti-independence coalition
presidential election. Between the [Right-wing] Rassemblement national and the Avenir en Confiance lobbied for automatic registration for 1,500 locally-born
[Left-wing] France insoumise, you could see this issue transformed into a theme for non-Kanak voters with more than three years residence. This would have required a
the national campaign.” change to the French organic law that governs the Noumea Accord, so this proposal
For many in the independence movement, it doesn’t really matter which French was rejected by the Committee of Signatories. Instead, the French High Commission
President is in power, given all major parties in Paris support ongoing colonial rule in will write to this group individually, and encourage them to register and vote.
the Pacific. In turn, the FLNKS has been lobbying for the rights of more than 2,000 “lost”
Kanak voters, born in New Caledonia and holding customary civil status, but
Uniting the independence movement without a registered address. Many are clearly eligible to participate as part of the in-
In a significant symbol of the importance of the looming referendum, FLNKS digenous, colonised people, so the French government agreed to allow access to state
representatives travelled to the Committee of Signatories as one united delegation. files to find evidence that would allow more of these Kanak voters to participate.
For many years, there have been tensions between the two major independence The Macron administration made a number of other concessions that will assist a
parties Union Calédonienne (UC) and the Party of Kanak Liberation (Palika), and bigger turn out of independence supporters, including easier access to proxy voting.
the two camps have often competed for seats in local political institutions. The May Because of the nature of colonial justice in the French dependency, many young
2019 provincial assembly elections in the Northern and Loyalty Islands provinces Kanak and islanders are more likely to fall foul of the law. More than 90 per cent of
saw strong contests between electoral lists aligned with UC or Palika. The same prisoners in the Camp Est jail at Nouville are indigenous. Last year, searching for
competition is likely to be played out in March 2020, during elections for local every last vote, FLNKS activists organised proxy votes for prisoners, as people jailed
municipal councils. Despite this, all the parties making up the FLNKS will have a for minor crimes are still eligible to vote.
joint campaign for the referendum next year. Now, the Committee of Signatories has agreed there should be improved reg-
There are also significant debates amongst other pro-independence groupings that istration of prisoners and the option of postal voting. With every vote counting,
called for non-participation in the November 2018 referendum, including the Parti the FLNKS hope to improve on last year’s effort, which saw a team working with
Travailliste (PT – Labour Party) and the Union Syndicale des Travailleurs Kanak et prisoners’ families to organise proxies for 84 out of 230 eligible prisoners.
Exploités (USTKE – Confederation of Kanak and Exploited Workers’ Unions). The Before the 2018 referendum, there was a high level of uncertainty about the legal

22 Islands Business, November 2019