Polling stations opened Sunday in New Caledonia for the first provincial council elections since 2019, with a heavy police presence at voting sites across the French Pacific archipelago.
According to New Zealand public broadcaster RNZ, approximately 2,500 police were deployed to protect and monitor polling stations on election day. Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time (21:00 GMT Saturday). RNZ reported that voters had lined up outside a polling station at the City Hall in the capital Noumea before voting began.
About 192,000 voters will elect 76 members to three provincial councils: 40 in the Southern Province, 22 in the Northern Province, and 14 in the Loyalty Islands. Among those elected, 54 will become members of the Pacific archipelago's congress, the territory's main governing body with authority to pass local laws.
The election was originally scheduled for 2024 but was postponed due to riots between Indigenous Kanak people and those loyal to France. The event is expected to play a crucial role in shaping future negotiations with France over the territory's status.
New Caledonia, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean about 1,500 km east of Australia, is home to around 270,000 people, including 41% Indigenous Kanak of Melanesian origin and 24% of European origin, mostly French. Colonized by France in 1863, New Caledonia became an overseas territory in 1946. The territory has long been a subject of dispute over France's role in its internal affairs.
Sunday's election comes after the main pro-independence group rejected a deal with France aimed at bringing stability to the overseas territory. The agreement would establish a Caledonian state and create a Caledonian citizenship protected by the French constitution, but it would eliminate any future referendums on independence.
Three referendums on the archipelago's future independence have been held so far—in 2018, 2020, and 2021—and all three favored remaining with France. Pro-independence groups boycotted the third vote, which was held during the COVID-19 pandemic.
