May 23. () –
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, announced this Thursday from New Caledonia the suspension of the controversial proposal for a reform of the electoral roll that gives the right to vote to French citizens in the overseas territory and which has led to a wave of violence that has resulted in six deaths and 280 arrests.
Macron, who has traveled to New Caledonia with several members of his cabinet with the aim of alleviating the crisis, has stated that, “after listening to everyone”, he is in the process of temporarily blocking the proposal in a few weeks. “resuming dialogue with a view to a global agreement.”
The French president has thus opposed approving the reform of the electoral roll “in the current context” and has set a deadline of several weeks to “allow appeasement” in New Caledonia. “Political dialogue must be resumed immediately,” said Macron, according to the BFMTV channel.
Regarding this “global agreement” mentioned by Macron, the French president has recognized that “it must be negotiated with the political forces” and then submitted to the vote of the citizens of New Caledonia. Likewise, he has acknowledged his desire for the pact to “integrate the French Constitution.”
Macron has made political dialogue and the end of the state of emergency in New Caledonia subject to the cessation of road blockades by young New Caledonian independence activists. “When we have verified that these blockades have indeed been lifted, the political dialogue must be resumed immediately,” he said.
Hours earlier, Macron had stated from the archipelago – located in Pacific waters next to Australia, about 17,000 kilometers from France – that the territory is suffering “an absolutely unprecedented insurrectional movement” as a result of the proposal to reform the electoral roll.
The conflict broke out on May 13 after the debate in the French Parliament on an electoral reform that grants the vote to French citizens. The text, finally approved and which Macron wants to ratify next month, proposes the right to vote for French citizens who have been residing in the territory for at least ten years.
The Kanaks, and especially the independence alliance of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), have denounced the proposal as a blow to their aspirations at a particularly critical moment in relations with France, after the alliance boycotted the last independence referendum of 2021, which ended in victory for the unionists.
Regarding a new consultation for the independence of New Caledonia, President Macron has assured that there will not be a third referendum.
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