Proindependence win

Noumea: New Caledonia has elected a proindependence government, its first since 1999.

The country’s 54seat Congress yesterday cast its votes for a new 11member government, following the collapse this month of the tenuous powersharing government led by conservative president Thierry Santa.

The result means that, for the first time since 1999, the proindependence bloc has the majority with six of the 11 seats in the new government.

It is now all but certain a proindependence politician will be elected president of the French territory for the first time in almost four decades.

The scene is now set for the third and final referendum on independence from France, which is slated for November next year.