High Security as New Caledonia Votes in Provincial Elections Amid Tensions with France

Security was high at polling stations across the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Sunday, as voters began to cast ballots in provincial elections originally scheduled for 2024. Some 2,500 police were dispatched to guard polling stations across the archipelago as voters began casting ballots at 8:00 a.m. (2100 GMT Saturday) in the first such vote since 2019. Sunday's ballot will determine the balance of power ahead of negotiations with France over the territory's status, with 76 councilors being elected to the territory's provincial assemblies. Fifty-four of those councilors will become members of the Congress of New Caledonia — the only body authorized to pass local laws. Congress, headquartered in the capital Noumea, will then elect 11 members to the territory's executive, known as the collegial government. French voter-roll scheme sparked violence that delayed 2024 ballot New Caledonia was paralyzed by violent unrest between indigenous Melanesian Kanaks, who make up 41% of the population, and French loyalists ahead of the planned 2024 vote and scheduled negotiations with France. France's role in the islands' affairs has been a divisive issue for New Caledonia's roughly 270,000 residents for decades. Prior to the 2024 vote, France announced its intention to give voting rights to thousands of non-Indigenous residents, sparking riots that left 14 dead and caused an more than €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in damage. A law passed in May extended voting rights to roughly 10,575 "native-born" residents including over 4,000 with "customary civil status" — meaning Kanaks — in the first expansion of voting rolls frozen since 1998. Roughly 190,000 individuals are eligible to cast ballots in Sunday's elections. Issue of independence continues to occupy Noumea and Paris Despite a large proportion of the islands' inhabitants speaking out in favor of breaking away from France, three recent independence referendums held in 2018, 2020 and 2021 have all failed. Independence campaigners had called for a boycott of the most recent referendum, arguing that it coincided with the traditional Kanak mourning period following deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. France has sought to put the issue to rest for good, proposing the so-called Bougival Accord of 2025 as a way to stabilize relations. The agreement would have created a New Caledonian state and enshrined New Caledonian nationality in the French constitution while at the same time barring any future independence votes. Pro-independence groups, which enjoy strong support among the Kanak population, rejected the French proposal. Located about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Australia, New Caledonia was named by the English explorer Captain James Cook in 1774 and became a French colony in 1853. It officially became a French overseas territory in 1946. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has promised that negotiations on New Caledonia's future will resume next month and expressed the aim of completing them by the end of the year. Edited by: Zac Crellin