New Caledonian pro-independence party rejects referendum result | Election News

The latest results show that the turnout for the independence referendum was 43.90%, which was largely due to the call for a boycott of the vote.

New Caledonia’s pro-independence parties have rejected it the result of a referendum, which fully acknowledged that the Pacific territory remains part of France, with recent results showing that almost two-thirds of voters abstained or returned empty or empty ballots.

A coalition of pro-independence groups said in a statement on Monday that “they do not recognize the legitimacy or validity of this vote.”

“This referendum did not respect the spirit or letter of the Noumea agreements,” the statement added.

A total of 96.49% of the votes cast in Sunday’s referendum were against independence and only 3.51% in favor.

The latest results, published by the French High Commission in Noumea on Monday, showed a turnout of 43.9%.

Abstentions were 56.13 percent, white votes 1.43 percent and blank votes 1.56 percent.

Kanaks, who is largely in favor of independence, asked France not to take part in the vote after rejecting its request to postpone the vote to allow for a traditional period of mourning after the rise of coronavirus infections in September.

France’s vote against the will of the Kanaks was condemned because of the high sensitivity of colonization in the Pacific islands.

Speaking earlier on France Inter radio, the French minister in charge of overseas territories defended the result, saying it had full legal force.

“Regardless of the level of turnout, it is a vote that has the same weight as the previous two who returned the‘ No ’vote legally,” said Sebastien Lecornu, referring to the previous two referendums in 2018 and 2020.

He admits that “this means something political: we need to look at this division.”

Police reinforcements have been sent to the islands in distress and around 2,000 agents were expanded to vote, which passed without incident.

“The stubbornness of the French government, which is unable to reconcile its obligation to decolonize our people with its geopolitical interests in the Pacific, has broken the dialogue,” the main pro-independence group said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron said a “high rate of abstention” was recorded in a message recorded on Sunday, but said France could be “proud” of a more than 30-year process designed to resolve the state of the islands.

Residents were asked in three referendums whether they wanted to break up.

After rejecting independence in 2018 last year, they called on the islands to answer for the last time on Sunday whether they wanted New Caledonia to “hold on to full independence and become independent.”

The vote involved one of France’s largest overseas territories, with about 10 percent of the world’s nickel reserves, used to make stainless steel, batteries and mobile phones.

The islands are also a key part of France’s claim to being a Pacific power, giving New Caledonia rights over the Paris Ocean as well as military posts.

Experts suspect that an independent New Caledonia would move closer to Beijing, which has created close economic ties and political influence in other Pacific islands.

Macron said a “period of transition” was now under way, which would give Paris more political autonomy over the islands, which are divided by ethnic Europe and the indigenous population.