New Caledonia: for the first time, a Kanak separatist at the head of the government

Published on : 07/08/2021 – 07:55

The independentist Louis Mapou was elected, Thursday July 8, president of the collegial government of New Caledonia where the third and last referendum of self-determination of the Nouméa agreement is to be held on December 12.

“It is an honor and a privilege. We must carry a heritage which is heavy, that of our figurehead, Jean-Marie Tjibaou”, he declared after his election, thus paying homage to the Kanak leader assassinated in 1989.

Louis Mapou, 62, obtained six votes among the eleven members of the government – the three votes of his party UNI-FLNKS (National Union for Independence) and the three votes of the other branch of the FLNKS, the Caledonian Union (UC). Loyalist Thierry Santa, outgoing president, won four votes while the member of the government from the center-right party, Caledonia together, voted blank.

Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu addressed “his republican congratulations” to Louis Mapou and offered him a meeting soon in Paris or by videoconference to discuss, among other things, the health crisis and “the structural difficulties of Caledonian public finances”.

The end of an institutional crisis

This election, won for the first time by a Kanak, puts an end to an institutional crisis lasting more than five months. This prevented the 17th government of the Noumea Accord, elected on February 17, from taking office because the enemy brothers of the FLNKS – the UNI and the UC – were vying for the presidency. An agreement was finally reached last week. In the meantime, the outgoing executive has handled day-to-day business.

In the absence of a candidate, the vice-presidency – which traditionally goes to the opposing camp – has not been assigned. Under these conditions, the executive will take full office within one week at the latest.

Isabelle Champmoreau, member of the government, explained that her party Avenir en Confiance (AEC, non-independence) was not running for this post because the FLNKS “upset the institutional balance” by bringing down the government of Thierry Santa on February 2. “We are not guarantor of the policy that could be implemented in the coming months,” she argued. She also deplored that “the most radical fringe of the separatists had taken precedence over the moderates represented” by the UC candidate.

Urgent files

Louis Mapou, who belongs to the left wing of the FLNKS, comes from a Marxist-inspired formation – the Palika, created in 1976, a few years after the emergence of the Kanak independence claim. “Almost as an express fact, we are coming to the most difficult moment that New Caledonia has been going through in the last thirty years”, declared the new chief executive, referring to the public finance crisis and the important deficit in social accounts.

He indicated that these two files would be a priority, with the reopening of the borders “by the end of the year”. New Caledonia, free from Covid-19, has set up a sanitary airlock since March 2020 and drastically reduced its air links.

Calling on “New Caledonia to do an economic, political and social introspection”, the Kanak leader also included on his roadmap the fight against inequalities, against the drift of part of the Kanak youth and against the violence committed Women’s. To this end, he assured to want to lead “a government of proximity” and “to project beyond the referendum in a peaceful and serene environment”.

The first two referendums on independence organized in November 2018 and October 2020 were won by the pro-France with 56.7% and 53.3% of the vote respectively.

During recent discussions in Paris, at the invitation of Prime Minister Jean Castex and Sébastien Lecornu, it was decided that the referendum of December 12 would be followed, whatever the result, by a transition period until to “a project referendum” before June 30, 2023.

With AFP and Reuters