With ten hours ahead of France, the Caledonians are the first to vote Sunday in the municipal elections. Some 215,000 voters are called to go to the polling stations of the 33 municipalities with 271,407 inhabitants, located 16,000 kilometers from mainland France and spared until then by the coronavirus epidemic.
At six o'clock, even before the polling stations opened, a level 1 cyclonic alert was triggered for the north of Grande-Terre. This alert level provides for the gradual cessation of professional activities and recommends that the population return to their home. But the state services decided to maintain the poll, calling on voters to go to the polls as soon as possible.
Several cut roads
"We are anticipating a deterioration in weather conditions," said Olivier Ciry, the chief of the technical assistance service to the municipalities of the Directorate of Civil Security. Another board meeting is scheduled for the end of the day. By the middle of the morning, several roads were cut, which prevented some voters from going to their polling station, especially on the northeast coast of the territory.
In Noumea, in the polling station of the Daniel Talon school, the largest in the commune and located in the northern districts, the crowds were there as soon as the polls opened. "I'm here to change things," said Odette, a voter from Kaméré, one of the working-class neighborhoods of the city. "Many people are disgusted with politics today."
A point of view shared by Jimmy, also a voter in this Kaméré office. “Politicians have lost the confidence of the people. We see it regularly with the abstention rate. We must regain this confidence. It is for this reason that we must vote, each voice is important ”. At noon, the participation rate reached 21% for the whole territory, according to figures communicated by the state services. A lower figure than in 2014 when the participation reached 26.94%. In Noumea, with 19% participation, the noon rate was still slightly lower than the average.
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