Several New Caledonian parties, pro-independence or not, are calling for a postponement of the vote on the constitutional reform on the unfreezing of the electorate and for dialogue to find an agreement and promote a return to calm. Will they be heard?
Will the electorate of New Caledonia be expanded or not? Unless there is agreement between local elected officials, it will be up to Parliament to decide. Emmanuel Macron refused to renounce the constitutional reform which provides for the thawing of the Caledonian electoral body in a letter addressed to the elected representatives of the archipelago on May 15. On the contrary, he pressed New Caledonian politicians to renew dialogue to find an agreement by the end of June, the period at which parliamentarians will be summoned to a Congress in Versailles for the final vote on the reform. At least in theory.
Calls for a postponement of the vote on constitutional reform have multiplied and reached different camps. The independence parties of New Caledonia, opposed to the expansion of the electorate, who were the first to demand a postponement of the text have since been joined by other groups. “With the exception of the Loyalists and the Rassemblement-LR, all political forces (FLNKS, Eveil Océanien, Calédonie Ensemble, Rassemblement National) support the creation of a dialogue mission and the postponement of the date of the Congress” assured the president of the non-independence Calédonie ensemble party, Philippe Gomès, in New Caledonia the 1st.
The riots in New Caledonia have pushed several politicians to review their position on constitutional reform and the unfreezing of the electoral body. The National Rally which voted for the adoption of the text in the Senate and the National Assembly is now pleading for a postponement of the vote in Congress. Jordan Bardella considered it “irresponsible” to organize the vote before the Olympic Games and Marine Le Pen called for a six-month postponement of the next provincial elections organized in New Caledonia and before which the question of the electorate must be decided. The vote, initially scheduled for May, has already been postponed to December.
But the far-right party is not the only one to have changed its position. The Republicans, who also contributed to the adoption of the text in Parliament, are now divided over a possible postponement. The president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the president of the group of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, are in favor of more flexibility. Politicians agree that the return of republican order is the priority and according to Gérard Larcher “the timetable must be adjusted” and the executive must “suspend the procedure for convening Parliament in Congress” until the return to calm, as reported by Le Parisien. But LR deputies refuse any policy of “temporization”. According to Olivier Marleix, president of the LR group in the Assembly, postponing the text “would be a mistake” and would amount to “giving in” to the rioters and “those who refuse dialogue”.
A turnaround that wins the presidential majority. Initially unanimous on the holding of the Congress, certain voices, including that of Yaël Braun-Pivet, rose to request a postponement of the text. A majority of them think that convening the Congress at the end of June is a bad idea and prefer the resumption of dialogue between New Caledonian elected officials. Voices that could make Emmanuel Macron hesitate about summoning Parliament to Versailles. Will the head of state hold his position or listen to the calls of local elected officials and those from his own ranks?
No decision or presidential speech in sight, but Emmanuel Macron decided to go there to gauge the situation. The President of the Republic must go to New Caledonia “as of this [Tuesday] evening” to set up “a mission” there, announced government spokesperson Prisca Thévenot at the end of the Council of Ministers. “The priority is the return to order. This is the prerequisite for any dialogue,” added the minister without giving further details.
By dint of being heard and repeated, the calls from New Caledonia’s elected officials to postpone the vote on the constitutional reform seem to have undermined the possibility of seeing the text adopted in Congress by the end of June. “The absence of a global agreement, demanded by all, now makes a 3/5th majority at the Versailles Congress impossible to validate the constitutional reform” estimated the Caledonia party together at the 1st. An argument which gives food for thought on the interest of calling Parliament into Congress so quickly. If rejected, the constitutional reform would then have to follow the legislative route once again. However, the government wishes to put an end to this reform project before the next provincial elections in New Caledonia.
The thaw of the electorate can only be the fruit of a “great agreement” between all political groups, independent or not, according to the Caledonia party, and it is in this direction that the calls for dialogue from the different parties are going. Caledonian. Only a few groups are opposed to the resumption of exchanges: loyalist elected officials and those of the Rassemblement-LR refuse to dialogue until order has returned to New Caledonia. But the return to calm could take longer than expected and further delay the discussions called by the other parties and the government…
The fact remains that “on the sly” exchanges are underway between the elected pro-independence members of the Caledonian Union (UC) and those non-independent members of the Caledonian Republicans, whose president Sonia Backès is also a member of the majority. But they are far from unanimous and do not resemble the desired “global agreement”.