NOUMÉA: Polls opened on Sunday in New Caledonia for the first provincial elections since 2019, with around 2,500 police officers deployed across the French-ruled Pacific territory to secure voting stations amid heightened political tensions.
Voting began at 8am local time (21:00 GMT Saturday), with long queues reported outside polling stations, including at the Hôtel de Ville in the capital, Nouméa, according to RNZ.
Authorities said approximately 192,000 registered voters will elect 76 councillors across three provincial assemblies: 40 seats in the southern province, 22 in the north, and 14 in the Loyalty Islands.
From these, 54 elected representatives will go on to form New Caledonia’s Congress, the territory’s main legislative body responsible for passing local laws.
The election, originally scheduled for 2024, was delayed following violent unrest between Indigenous Kanak groups and pro-France loyalists, and is seen as a key moment in shaping future negotiations with France over the territory’s political status.
New Caledonia, located about 1,500km east of Australia, has a population of roughly 270,000, including Indigenous Kanak people and a significant population of European origin, mostly French.
The archipelago was colonised by France in 1863 and became an overseas territory in 1946. Its political future has been the subject of decades of debate over independence from France.
Sunday’s vote comes after pro-independence groups rejected a proposed agreement with France that would have created a Caledonian state while integrating a “Caledonian nationality” into the French constitution, but also ending future independence referendums.
Three referendums on independence were previously held in 2018, 2020 and 2021, all of which resulted in votes to remain part of France, although the final referendum was boycotted by pro-independence groups during the COVID-19 pandemic.