No to independence won 96.5% on Sunday, but more than one on two voter did not go to the polls. A demonstration of passive resistance reminiscent of France the existence of the Kanak people.
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The storm after calm. Monday, December 13, New Caledonia is on a preclonic alert at the approach of Ruby tropical depression, which should turn into a cyclone and touch the territory in the night from Monday to Tuesday. The day after the December 12 consultation on the accession of the territory to full sovereignty, the Caledonian population is much more concerned by the damage it may cause that by the consequences of the NO, released a third time winner vote.
The victory of the non is broad, very broad, too broad, will say some, regretting that the latter binary referendum under the Nouméa Agreement of 5 May 1998 was truncated after the call for non-participation decided by independence leaders. To the question “Do you want New Caledonia to access full sovereignty and become independent?”, The answer was not for 96.5% of the votes cast, against 3.5% for yes. But in the opposite of the two previous consultations, to which the Caledonian voters enrolled on the special list had participated massively, the abstention has ceased to 56.13%, against 18.99% in 2018 and 14.31% in 2020.
The result is none the less there. This third referendum was intended to close the process open by the Noumea Agreement. It is now necessary to invent a new path, a new project of society, a new institutional status, to keep the promise of a common destiny. But, as Emmanuel Macron said in a televised speech on Sunday, “New Caledonia will remain French”, even if the constitutional right to self-determination remains guaranteed.
“Respect and humility”
Resulting the words of custom Kanak, the head of state welcomed this result “with respect and humility”. Respect, because the commitments made were kept, because this unprecedented process, without equivalent to the world, went so far and, by three times, voters were able to express their choice. Humility, because every ballot, although it had been held under different conditions because of the non-participation of part of the electoral body, showed how the Caledonian society remains deeply divided. “Humility, finally, before the magnitude of the task that is ours,” acknowledged Mr. Macron.
What teachings retain this third referendum? First, he confirms the geographical, sociological and identity cleavage who had spoken at the first two consultations. It is in a way the mirror of the first two, through participation and non-participation. You have to take the three referendums like a whole. Where the yes had largely imposed at the first two consultations, the instruction not to go vote was widely followed: in the South Province, 29.1% yes in 2020, 39.4% abstention on December 12 ; In the North Province, respectively 78.3% and 83.2%; In the Loyalty Islands, 84.2% and 95.4%.
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