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  • Kanaky New Caledonia
  • Mathias Chauchat (bio)

The year under review was disrupted by the convergence of three major factors: the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic, like elsewhere in the world; the second self-determination ballot on 4 October; and protests and violent disturbances over the mining industry.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused global social and economic turmoil all over the world, but the handling of the pandemic has had a special character in Kanaky New Caledonia. Pursuant to the statutory Organic Law, the government of New Caledonia is in charge of public health and border health control; however, the prime minister of France established a state of health emergency throughout the national territory, including New Caledonia. Even though the country did not have any community transmission, the French high commissioner, in a joint order with the loyalist president of the local government, Thierry Santa, implemented a lockdown period from 17 March to 20 April. It seemed necessary to do the same as in France. Thanks to the suspension of international flights, New Caledonia has remained covid-19-free. When flights were cautiously resumed, a fourteen-day quarantine in a dedicated environment (ie, Nouméa hotels) was prescribed for all arrivals. There was general consensus in New Caledonia on this specific point. Nevertheless, the Union Calédonienne (Caledonian Union [uc], a party in the independence coalition Socialist Kanak National Liberation Front [flnks]) contested the French state's [End Page 541] taking over of the country's powers and referred the matter to the French Conseil d'Etat (highest administrative court), with the aim of having the state of health emergency canceled. Furthermore, the Caledonian Union referred the French law (as a priority question of constitutionality) to the French Constitutional Council, who rejected the appeal on the grounds that everything related to public freedom is the exclusive responsibility of the French state (Constitutional Council of France 2020). To the contrary, for the Conseil d'Etat, the purpose of the measure is to decide whether the French state or New Caledonia is responsible. The paradoxical consequence is that New Caledonia, which is responsible for health control at its borders, cannot set up a system of quarantine by itself because it infringes on public freedom. The pro-independence parties felt that this undermined French confidence in New Caledonia by allowing the French state to take over jurisdiction that had been permanently transferred to New Caledonia under the Nouméa Accord. It also damaged confidence in the president of the New Caledonian government, who failed to defend the country's jurisdiction. Thus, the handling of the pandemic confirmed that France remains a highly centralized country.

The year 2018 had seen the first self-determination ballot on 4 November. A massive "no" to independence had generally been expected. However, the big surprise of this first referendum was that the "no" result was neither clear-cut nor massive, which the independentist parties quickly interpreted as a "yes, maybe" or a "yes, soon." From 2018 to 2020, the gap was sharply reduced between the two camps. The turnout in 2020 was overwhelming at 85.69 percent. According to the final results of the 4 October 2020 referendum, out of 180,799 registered voters, 53.26 percent voted "no" to independence and 46.74 percent "yes" (High Commission of the French Republic in New Caledonia 2020b). Only 9,570 votes separated the "yes" votes from the "no" votes, compared to 18,535 in 2018. This means that by fewer than five thousand people changing their minds, the majority would switch to full sovereignty. These results show a society more divided than ever on the "day after."

Although the French state claims a position of arbiter—and rarely that of decolonizer—it offered a little help to nonindependence activists in the second campaign. First, it granted the right to use the French tricolor flag in official campaign documents. Second, in the official letter from the French government to the New Caledonians, the French state refused to write anything reassuring about the day after in terms of a future discussion between the future independent state and France, thus creating the feeling of emptiness the loyalists wanted. Finally, it restricted the...

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