New Caledonia polls open in first local vote in the French territory since 2019 | New Caledonia

In France’s overseas territory of New Caledonia, polls opened on Sunday for the archipelago’s first provincial elections since 2019, after voting was postponed due to a halt in talks on the archipelago’s political future.

The election, originally planned for 2024, will determine the balance of power in New Caledonia ahead of new negotiations with France over the territory’s status, with independence remaining the decisive political issue.

About 192,000 voters will elect 76 councilors for three provincial councils – 40 in the Southern Province, 22 in the Northern Province and 14 in the Loyalty Islands.

54 of those elected will become members of the Pacific archipelago’s congress, the region’s main governing body and the only body authorized to pass local laws.

Members of Congress will then elect up to 11 members to the executive branch, known as the joint government.

The elections took place after the main pro-independence group rejected a deal with France aimed at bringing stability to the overseas territory.

The so-called Treaty of Bougival would have created a Caledonian state and a Caledonian citizenship enshrined in the French constitution, but would have canceled future independence referendums.

Three referendums in 2018, 2020 and 2021 found a majority in favor of the rest of France, but pro-independence groups boycotted the third vote, held during the Covid pandemic.

However, the independence movement maintains strong support, especially among the indigenous Melanesian Kanak population.

A law approved in May added some 10,575 previously excluded “native-born” residents to the voter roll, including more than 4,000 people with so-called “traditional civil status” meaning Kanaks.

After voter rolls were frozen under a landmark deal in 1998, the change increased the number of voters taking part in Sunday’s poll.

A previous plan to expand voting rights to thousands of non-Indigenous long-term residents led to deadly riots in 2024.

The elections are being held under close scrutiny more than two years after violence left 14 people dead and more than two billion euros in damage.

France has deployed approximately 2,400 law enforcement officers to New Caledonia, where they will remain until mid-July.

French prime minister Sebastien Lecornu has promised that talks on the future of the overseas territories will continue next month, with the aim of reaching an agreement before the end of the year.