New Caledonia: 96% vote against independence

Noumea, Dec. 12: More than 96 per cent of voters on the Pacific territory of New Caledonia rejected independence from France in a third referendum on Sunday that was boycotted by pro-independence groups, final results showed.

With all ballots counted,

96.49 per cent were against independence, while only 3.51 per cent were in favour, with turn-out a mere 43.90 per cent, results from the islands’high commission showed.

France’s nickel-rich Pacific territory of New Caledonia voted on Sunday in a third and final referendum on independence — with some of those wanting to break free demanding a boycott because they say the Covid pandemic is preventing a fair ballot.

Turnout was sharply down on the two previous polls, with just 27.8 per cent voting by midday

(0100 GMT), compared with 49.4 per cent at that stage in the 2020 vote, according to the islands’ high commission.

At the Candide-Koch polling station in the capital Noumea, a short line of voters queued in the oppressive heat.

“This referendum does not make too much sense because half the population has decided not to vote,” said Cathy, a bookseller, who gave only her first name.

“I came out of civicmindedness, what interests me is the society we are going to build afterwards,” she said.

The territory of about 185,000 voters, 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) east of Australia, was granted three independence referendums under a 1988 deal aimed at easing tensions on the islands.

Having rejected a breakaway from France in 2018 and then again last year, the inhabitants are being asked one last time: “Do you want New Caledonia to accede to full sovereignty and become independent?”

At stake is one of France’s biggest overseas territories, with about 10 per cent of the world’s nickel — used to make stainless steel, batteries and mobile phones — and a key strategic asset in the contest between the West and China for power in the Indo-Pacific.

“If the French safeguard disappears, all elements would be in place for China to establish itself permanently in New Caledonia,” said international relations analyst Bastien Vandendyck. —