A plan to expand the electoral register was passed as New Caledonia reels from its worst insecurity in more than 30 years.
France has introduced controversial reforms to voting rules in New Caledonia, sparking the worst unrest in the Pacific region in more than 30 years.
The New Caledonian government said more than 130 people had been arrested in the riots that began on Monday night with cars and buildings set on fire and stores looted.
The High Commission of the Republic of New Caledonia said in a statement on Wednesday morning that “serious unrest” continued, adding that a curfew and ban on public gatherings remained in place.
He added that a jailbreak attempt was also thwarted.
Anger has been simmering for weeks over Paris’ plan to amend New Caledonia’s constitution to allow more people to vote in local elections. Critics say the move will marginalize the indigenous Kanak people, who make up about 40 percent of the population, by giving voting rights to recent arrivals from Europe.
France insists the rules need to be changed to support democracy on the island.
The Paris National Assembly adopted the bill shortly after midnight, after a lengthy debate, by a vote of 351 to 153.
French President Emmanuel Macron later wrote to New Caledonia’s representatives, asking them to “unequivocally condemn all violence” and “call for calm,” news agency AFP reported.
The new rules amount to constitutional amendments and will require a joint session of the National Assembly and the Senate for them to take effect.
long-term problems
With a population of approximately 300,000 people, New Caledonia is located between Australia and Fiji and is one of France’s largest overseas territories.
The territory, some 17,000 kilometers (10,563 miles) from Paris, is an important part of France’s claim as a Pacific power, but the Kanak people have long complained of control from Paris.
Dennis Fisher, a former Australian consul general in New Caledonia, said he was not surprised by the violence in recent days, telling Al Jazeera it showed “a real fundamental failure in the way the territory is managed”.
The voting rules are part of the so-called Nouméa Convention of 1998.
Under the agreement, France ceded more political power to the territory and agreed to restrict voting rights in New Caledonia’s provincial and parliamentary elections to those who were then residents of the island.
Approximately 40,000 French nationals have moved to New Caledonia since 1998, and the changes expand the electoral register to include those who have lived in the region for 10 years.
The Noumea Accord also included a series of three independence referendums, the last of which was held in December 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pro-independence groups boycotted the vote to remain in France and rejected the result.
They are calling for a new vote.
On Wednesday, the main pro-independence group, the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), issued a statement urging calm, condemning the violence and calling on the rioters to return home.
The socio-economic marginalization, land confiscation, and disenfranchisement of the Kanak people have been a source of violent civil unrest in New Caledonia for many years.
A boycott of the 1987 referendum was also led by independence supporters who were angry at the recent granting of the right to vote to residents of the territory. The overwhelming vote to remain in France sparked violent protests and ultimately led to the 1988 Matignon Agreement, which aimed to reduce inequalities, and the Nouméa Agreement, which set out a vision of “shared sovereignty.” connected.
“The concerns run deep,” Fisher said.
