Édouard Philippe proposed, on Saturday, May 30, to postpone to October 4 the referendum on the independence of New Caledonia originally scheduled for September 6, due to the logistical difficulties arising from the coronavirus crisis.

The Prime Minister transmitted a draft decree with this new date to the presidents of the government and the congress of New Caledonia for advisory opinion within 15 days, according to a press release from Matignon. The text should be presented to the Council of Ministers in the second half of June, the State fixing the date of the referendum.

"In order to guarantee the irreproachable nature of the organization of the referendum", the Prime Minister "proposes that the date of the referendum" on the accession to full sovereignty of New Caledonia, "initially stopped on September 6, 2020, be set for October 4, 2020, "said the press release.

Because even if "the preparations for the referendum were continued" during the health crisis, "a risk remains on the framing of the voting procedures", explains Matignon.

"Ensure the flawless nature of the organization of the referendum"

"Our ability to collect 250 applications for national and international observers, and to send them to New Caledonia within deadlines compatible with the three weeks of quarantine required to date" for each arriving in New Caledonia "is not guaranteed ", added the press release.

Thanks to a drastic reduction in international flights and a very strict quarantine, New Caledonia has only recorded 18 cases of Covid-19.

In letters to the president of the government, the loyalist Thierry Santa (Avenir en Confiance, close to the Republicans), and to the president of the Congress, the independent Kanak Rock Wamytan (UC-FLNKS), the Prime Minister underlines that this difficulty of arriving within deadlines compatible with quarantine also arises for "the missions of international organizations and journalists" led to follow the referendum.

It is a question of "ensuring the irreproachable character of the organization of the referendum, so that its result is incontestable and uncontested", he argues.

Possible third referendum by 2022 in the event of a no vote

After the first referendum, which was held on November 4, 2018 and saw the victory of the "no" to independence (56.7%), the date of a second referendum had been set by the Prime Minister at 6 September 2020, less than two years after the first, as provided for by the Noumea agreement which organizes the gradual decolonization of the archipelago.  

The new date of October 4 "allows to keep all the possible alternatives aimed at avoiding the concomitance of the national electoral deadlines of spring 2022" and "to envisage a possible third consultation in 2021 or in 2022", guarantees Edouard Philippe. "The government is committed to ensuring that the overall timetable for the consultation process is not changed," he promises.

If the "no" to independence wins again in 2020, a third referendum can then be held by 2022, under the Noumea Accord.

In recent weeks, the separatists of the FLNKS had officially requested the postponement of the referendum until the end of October or the beginning of November, in order to "avoid an overlap" with the campaign for the second round of the municipal elections in late June. If Calédonie Ensemble, loyalist center-right formation is favorable to a postponement, L'Avenir en Confiance is opposed to it.

With AFP

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