Voting is under way in New Caledonia today in the last of three referendums on independence from France.

The pro-independence parties said they will not take part in today’s vote and will not recognise its result because Paris repeatedly refused to postpone the plebiscite to next year.

They argued that the pandemic with its lockdown and continuing restrictions did not allow them to conduct a fair campaign and therefore they asked their supporters not to vote.

• LISTEN TO PACIFIC WAVES: Walter Zweifel talks to Koroi Hawkins about the vote (duration 6′:18″)
• READ MORE: Betrayal of Kanaky decolonisation by Paris risks return to dark days
• Independence for Kanaky: A media and political stalemate or a ‘three strikes’ Frexit challenge? — Backgrounder
• I support Kanaky New Caledonian independence – but why I’m not voting
• Other New Caledonia referendum reports

In last year’s second referendum, just over 53 percent voted against independence while turnout was almost 86 percent.

Irrespective of the outcome of today’s vote, France is keen to work towards a new statute for New Caledonia, with the French Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu at hand in Noumea in the days ahead, but pro-independence parties said the visit is unwelcome and just another “provocation”.

While the minister said he would outline details of the 18-month transition phase following the vote in upcoming talks, the pro-independence parties ruled out meeting him and said any negotiations would have to wait until after the French presidential election in April.

The customary Kanak Senate, which is a forum of traditional leaders, has now declared today as a day of mourning for the victims of the pandemic and called on Kanaks not to vote.

Its president Yvon Kona also appealed for calm so as there is no trouble on polling day.

An extra 2000 police and military personnel were flown in from France to provide security across the territory.

Complaint that Lecornu flouted covid-19 rules
A small pro-independence party lodged a formal complaint against Lecornu in France after reports that the minister flouted covid-19 restrictions during his previous New Caledonia visit in October.

The news site Mediapart reported that Lecornu went for drinks at a meeting with New Caledonian politicians.

The complaint alleges that by breaking the rules he endangered the health of others.

The ministry said the event was a work-related multilateral exchange.

It said in turn it intends to lodge a complaint against the party for defamation.

France without New Caledonia ‘less beautiful’, says Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron said that whatever the outcome of today’s referendum, there would be a life together.

He said the day after the referendum, they would be together to build the aftermath, in particular given the geopolitical reality of the region.

Macron said the role of the French government was not to be in either camp.

However, he said a France without New Caledonia would be “less beautiful”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

When tomorrow’s referendum on independence for New Caledonia goes ahead, it won’t have my vote.

I am a young Kanak woman, a pro-independence and decolonial feminist who wants to stop the injustice and humiliation of my people, colonised for more than a century by France.

But this referendum is undemocratic, and should be postponed.

• READ MORE: Betrayal of Kanaky decolonisation by Paris risks return to dark days
• Independence for Kanaky: A media and political stalemate or a ‘three strikes’ Frexit challenge? — Backgrounder
• Covid, mourning and the fear of violence: New Caledonia prepares for blighted independence vote
• Other New Caledonia referendum reports

For more than 30 years, New Caledonia has undergone a unique process of decolonisation. After the Matignon (1988) and Nouméa (1998) agreements, the indigenous Kanak people and the various communities on the archipelago have worked to build a common society.

A process driven by constant dialogue, the spoken word, and recognition of the Kanak culture, which had long been ignored.

This was done under the watchful and “neutral” eye of the French state. The spoken word refers to a Melanesian way of navigating the world — it determines actions and assures the perpetuity of the collective existence of the group.

It is sacred, with a moral and spiritual commitment, and cannot be betrayed.

Three referendums on independence
The Nouméa agreements included up to three referendums, asking New Caledonians to vote on the sovereignty and independence of the islands.

The first took place in November 2018. The “No” vote, which “loyalists” had initially predicted would win by 70 per cent, ended up with only 56.7 per cent, while 43.3 per cent said “Yes” to independence.

In October 2020, the second referendum was held, in which 53.3 per cent voted “No” and 46.7 per cent voted “Yes”. There were only 10,000 votes between the two camps.

We felt that we were touching independence with our fingertips; the momentum was in our favour.

For this third and final referendum, the state initially announced that the consultation could not be held between September this year and August 2022, because of French presidential campaigns and elections taking place until April. It later contradicted itself by setting the date for December 12.

As the referendum campaign was about to begin, New Caledonia, which until then had been covid-free, recorded its first local cases on September 6.

The pandemic rapidly spread: 276 people have died since, and a light lockdown has been put in place. Despite this crisis, the state is maintaining the referendum date, and the pro-independence movement has called on its supporters not to vote.

And I wouldn’t vote. The future of New Caledonia cannot be built without its indigenous people. The Kanak voice is the cornerstone of New Caledonia’s common destiny.

Campaign conditions are not met
With covid-19 health restrictions, it is impossible to create the democratic conditions for a normal and fair election campaign. Large rallies are now impossible, and many pro-independence Kanak tribes do not have easy access to the internet.

The digital divide is real, and the idea of a “fair” online campaign is an illusion. Beyond this, the virus is likely to demobilise voters.

Time of mourning
This is a time for traditional Kanak mourning. More than 50 percent of the people who have died from the virus are Kanak. The Customary Senate, the representative body of the Kanak people, has declared a period of mourning of one year.

Yet the state has dismissed this issue. We felt this was a sign of contempt. I have the impression that my culture is being ignored, that my Kanak identity is being denied, and that we are being set back more than 30 years. To a time when our voice did not count. As if I and we didn’t exist.

Betrayal of the spoken word
The spoken word is of considerable importance in Kanak culture. Sunday’s vote will be perfectly “legal”, even if half the electorate does not participate. But what political and moral legitimacy can be given to an independence referendum without the participation of the colonised people?

The French state, with the support of local loyalists, is undermining 30 years of negotiations. It risks taking us back to the violence of the 1980s. The state’s failure to keep its word is bringing us closer to the shadows of the past.

As a young Kanak woman, my voice is often silenced, but I want to remind the world that we are here, we are standing, and we are acting for our future. The state’s spoken word may die tomorrow, but our right to recognition and self-determination never will.

Marylou Mahé is a decolonial feminist artist and student in English studies, in France. She was born in Houaïlou, in the Kanak country of Ajë-Arhö, of mixed Kanak and French descent. She is currently finishing her master’s thesis on Hawai’ian feminism. This article is published via the Pacific Cooperation Foundation as part of the Pacific Voices series and was previously published by Stuff.

There is growing unease over the French decision to hold Kanaky New Caledonia’s third and final independence referendum on December 12.

Pro-independence parties and groups decided last month that because of the pandemic, they will stay away from the polls.

The decolonisation mechanism, at play for 30 years, will therefore reach its formal end without the full participation of the colonised indigenous Kanak people at the centre of the process.

• READ MORE: Independence for Kanaky: A media and political stalemate or a ‘three strikes’ Frexit challenge? – Pacific Journalism Review
• Other New Caledonia referendum reports

In the two preceding referendums in 2018 and 2020, the percentage of voters backing the status quo fell from 56.7 percent in 2018 to 53.3 percent in 2020.

With the expected overwhelming “no” vote, the referendum decision will put the onus back on France to find a new way to accommodate the Kanaks’ right to self-determination.

The December date for the referendum was chosen by French Overseas Minister Sebastien Lecornu in June after he dismissed calls by the pro-independence parties to hold it in late 2022.

His position echoed the consensus that the referendum date should in no way overlap with the campaign period for the French presidential and legislative elections due next year.

Honouring the Philippe promise
However, the pro-independence parties had asked Paris to honour the 2019 promise by then French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to exclude the period from September 2021 to July 2022 for the referendum

While the anti-independence camp was not keen on having another vote, its preference was a date as early as possible

The pro-independence side grudgingly accepted the choice by France, and began readying itself for the third independence vote in three years.

In August, campaigning started but it ground to a sudden halt in early September when a community covid-19 outbreak shattered New Caledonia’s bubble, previously spared any pandemic-related fatalities.

A strict lockdown ensued while the virus rapidly infected thousands and killed more than 200 people, mainly indigenous Kanaks.

Vaccinations have picked up and around 80 percent of the eligible population has had at least one jab, while about 70 percent have had two doses.

With community gatherings banned, the pro-independence parties saw their chances to reach grassroot voters dimmed and called for a postponement of the vote until late next year.

Population in grief
They also argued that for a population in grief, the time for political campaigning was not right.

But for Paris, the referendum machinery has been set in motion, with hundreds of security forces and their armoured personnel carriers on their way to Noumea.

Grief was not considered to be a reason to delay the vote, and Lecornu said that only an “out-of-control pandemic” justified a postponement.

With case numbers falling, the pandemic was deemed to be managed and conditions fine for the vote to go ahead.

Failing to get any concession, the pro-independence parties let the deadline lapse to submit official campaign material and then announced they would not take part in the referendum.

Mayors in towns with pro-independence administrations have been asked to assist in the formality of running of the referendum but not vote.

Pacific regional support for a delay
The Melanesian Spearhead Group, which has New Caledonia’s pro-independence FLNKS movement as a member, endorsed the call to delay the vote.

Vanuatu’s government also supports a postponement, while other governments in the region, including the Pacific Islands Forum, have remained silent.

Pacific regional statesmen, such as the former presidents of the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Palau, have written to President Macron asking him to show consideration and respect for the wishes of the Kanak people.

Former senior French officials as well as civil society members have also publicly, but unsuccessfully, lobbied Paris to delay the vote.

It is being pointed out time and again that the independence referendum imposed by France in 1987 failed because the Kanaks rejected the conditions attached to it.

With more than 98 percent then opting to stay French, it did not reflect the aspirations of the people colonised since 1853 and sidelined for the better part of a century thereafter.

A simmering conflict
A conflict simmering for years and on the verge of a civil war in the early 1980s had its most dramatic flashpoint in the 1988 Ouvea hostage crisis when both French police and hostage takers were killed in operations controversial until today.

The crisis happened to reach its very peak as France was in the middle of its 1988 presidential elections.

It marked a turning point and ushered in a deal to try to achieve New Caledonia’s decolonisation peacefully.

Known as the Matignon Accords, a 10-year horizon was set for a proper vote, but again put off with the signing of the 1998 Noumea Accord.

Another 20-year window was given for a decolonisation by 2018, and in case of a “no”, two more votes were possible, in 2020 an 2022.

Under the Accord, New Caledonia was given a collegial government, made up of members in proportion to their parties’ representation in Congress.

The electorate for provincial elections as well as the referendums was limited to indigenous people and long-term residents, and enshrined in the French constitution.

Irreversible transfer of power
The Accord also saw the phased and irreversible transfer of power from France to New Caledonia as part of the decolonisation under the auspices of the United Nations.

What remains under French control, and is the substance of the referendum, is defence, policing, the judiciary, monetary policy and foreign affairs.

Also part of the realignment was the transfer of vast nickel ore deposits to the mainly Kanak Northern Province for it to partake in what is the backbone of the economy.

While these accords provided for a peaceful coexistence for three decades, they failed to unite the communities for the much vaunted common destiny.

Approaching a third and final vote, the anti-independence side has been keen for an early vote, warning that the prolonged referendum process has already created uncertainty in difficult economic times.

The pro-French loyalists also pointed out that it was the pro-independence parties, which in April asked for the referendum and which should now stand by their decision, irrespective of the arrival of covid-19 in the community.

In July, France released a comprehensive document outlining what either a yes or a no will mean.

A convergence period
It also provides for a convergence period to June 2023 when Paris wants another vote in New Caledonia on its next status, whose elaboration looms as an enormous challenge.

With the French presidential election less than half a year away, time will be tight as attention invariably drifts towards French domestic politics which may even bring on another set of actors.

Missing in the lead-up to the December referendum, which is now all but certain to be a resounding victory for the anti-independence side, is any proposal which could be acceptable to both sides in order to maintain the peace.

Lecornu has said December 12 will see the Noumea Accord lapse. For the anti-independence side, this is being taken to mean the end of the restricted roll and the admission of all French citizens in future votes.

This risks setting an end to the concept of a New Caledonian people, made of indigenous Kanaks, descendants of 19th century convicts and long-term settlers.

It is clear that the Kanak people will not accept that its right to self-determination will be voted away by recent migrants.

A flawed referendum in December will set the clock back and force the two camps to relitigate the terms for a continued peaceful coexistence.

Maybe the time will come for a New Caledonia with sovereignty shared with France.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The French High Commissioner in New Caledonia, Patrice Faure, has confirmed the December 12 date for the independence referendum, fuelling tension over the ballot.

Kanaky New Caledonia’s pro-independence parties had called on Paris to postpone the vote to the second half of 2022 because of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak, which has claimed more than 270 lives, mostly Melanesian.

The pro-independence parties said they would not respect the result of the independence referendum if France retained December 12 as the date of the vote, reports RNZ Pacific.

• READ MORE: Other New Caledonia referendum reports

The parties said that with a Kanak population in mourning, the conditions were not conducive to run a proper referendum campaign.

However, the latest announcement by the French High Commissioner has been welcomed by the anti-independence parties.

The anti-independence camp want the December date to be maintained, saying that New Caledonia needs “clarity”.

Two previous referendums, in 2018 and 2020, were won narrowly by anti-independence supporters, but the pro-independence parties increased their vote and were gaining momentum before the covid-19 pandemic.

Social media threats
In a media release, Daniel Goa, president of the pro-independence Caledonian Union (UC), has condemned a campaign of “degagism” — a political “clean out” approach designed to manipulate the youth, reports The Nouvelles Calédoniennes.

The UC announced its support for the mayor of Poindimié and President of the Northern Province, Paul Néaoutyine, who had been the target of verbal attacks and threats.

Police a now investigating a video broadcast by the Facebook page ERSK TV which allegedly carried the threats.

The UC criticised the “discourse of degagism … taking hold in the country and in popular movements”.

It said the bad atmosphere risked creating a rift between the the youth and elders, “who remain the guarantors of our political and social struggle.”

Goa called called on citizens not to be “caught up” by “manipulative and deceptive” speeches seeking to create “instability”.