Voters in South Pacific territory choose to keep ties with France
A majority of voters in the South Pacific territory of New Caledonia chose Sunday to remain part of France instead of backing independence.
It’s a watershed development that led French President Emmanuel Macron to promise a full dialogue on the archipelago’s future.
Final results had 56.4 per cent of the voters who participated in the referendum deciding to maintain ties with the country that has ruled New Caledonia since the mid-19th century, the high commissioner’s office said.
A total of 43.6 per cent supported independence.
“I’m asking everyone to turn toward the future to build tomorrow’s New Caledonia,” Macron said, speaking from the presidential Élysée Palace in Paris.
“The spirit of dialogue is the sole winner.”
More than 174,000 registered voters were invited to answer the question: “Do you want New Caledonia to gain full sovereignty and become independent?”
The referendum attracted a record-high turnout of 80.6 per cent — so many voters that some polling stations in the capital, Noumea, had to stay open about an hour longer than planned to handle the crush.
The vote itself was a milestone in New Caledonia’s three decades of decolonization, a process prompted by the ill treatment Europeans inflicted on the region’s indigenous Kanak people.
New Caledonia, an archipelago east of Australia, has a nickel mining industry as well as sunkissed lagoons.
The high commissioner’s office reported limited outbreaks of unrest in Noumea as votes were counted, with seven cars set ablaze, some roads closed and two instances of stone-throwing. But otherwise the vote was overwhelmingly peaceful.
Praising both sides for their “responsible” campaigns, Macron said “contempt and violence” were the only losers’
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is to meet with New Caledonian officials Monday to discuss the political future of the territory of 270,000 people.
New Caledonia receives about $1.5 billion in French state subsidies every year, and many had feared the economy would suffer if ties were severed.
Residents of the region include the native Kanaks, who represent about 40 per cent of the population, people of European descent who make up about 27 per cent and others from Asian countries and Pacific islands.