French President Emmanuel Macron has decided to halt a contentious voting reform in New Caledonia, a French Pacific territory, following deadly riots.
During his visit to the main island, Macron urged local leaders to engage in dialogue to devise an alternative plan for the future of the archipelago.
The unrest has resulted in the death of six people, including two police officers, and hundreds have been injured. The current voting system in the territory is limited to the indigenous Kanaks and those who migrated from France before 1998.
The proposed reform aimed to extend voting rights to more French residents, including those who have resided in New Caledonia for at least a decade. This proposal has sparked fear among the Kanaks, who constitute about 40% of the population. They worry that this could weaken their political influence and complicate any future independence referendum.
Macron assured, “In the present context, this reform will not be implemented today.” He added that a few weeks would be allowed for tensions to ease and dialogue to resume in order to reach a broad agreement among all parties. He also stated that he would reassess the situation in a month.
However, Macron insisted that the outcome of the last independence referendum, where residents voted to stay part of France, should not be questioned.
New Caledonia has conducted four referendums on independence. The first two resulted in slim majorities favoring remaining part of France. The third was boycotted by pro-independence parties after authorities refused to delay the vote due to the Covid pandemic.
During his visit, Macron met with both pro- and anti-independence leaders in New Caledonia. He suggested that if both sides could agree on a new deal, the territory could then vote to adopt it in a referendum.
Under the 1998 Nouméa Accord, France agreed to grant New Caledonia, a group of islands located between Australia and Fiji that became a French territory in the 19th Century, more political autonomy and restrict voting in provincial and assembly elections to those who were residents at that time.
Since then, over 40,000 French nationals have relocated to New Caledonia. Last week, the National Assembly in Paris proposed extending voting rights to French residents who had lived in the territory for 10 years, triggering a violent backlash.
The turmoil has inflicted hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. French prosecutors confirm that none of the six fatalities were caused by shots fired by French security forces.
Macron added that the state of emergency would be lifted once all the protesters’ barricades had been dismantled. He described the violence as an “unprecedented insurrection movement” that took everyone by surprise.
He also stated that a 3,000-strong force deployed from France would remain in the territory, even during the Paris Summer Olympics if necessary.
The airport in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, is still closed to commercial flights. Military flights have evacuated about 300 Australian and 50 New Zealand vacationers from the territory. They reported witnessing arson and looting and experiencing food shortages.