Transcript
WALTER ZWEIFEL: New Caledonia has always been a bastion of the right, with huge victories in the past for Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. In the first round of the presidential election this year, Emmanuel Macron, a former banker and minister in a Socialist government, had had his worst result of any place in New Caledonia. This gave her a great head start for the second round, which saw her win a majority in the greater Noumea area. In some pockets she won 70 percent.
JOHNNY BLADES: Is her opposition to New Caledonia becoming independent a factor in that success?
WZ: It is certainly an element but the referendum process is fixed with the Noumea Accord and a vote is due next year. She has never said she would go against the accord but there have been voices saying that a Le Pen presidency would encourage those opposed to a vote to try to delay it or to even scuttle the referendum. It needs to be noted that a couple of days before the election , Mr Macron gave the local paper an interview in which he also said he was for New Caledonia to be remain French. This is the same politician who this year visited Algeria and said French colonisation was a crime against humanity. Now France's other settler colony, after Algeria, was New Caledonia.
JB: Security has been an issue of late. Could that have been a factor as well?
WZ: Probably, Ms Le Pen is seen as being tough on law and order and after the violence of the past year, there has been rising concern over lack of public safety. Those worries are seen to be taken on board by the National Front. Again, last week Mr Macron told New Caledonia's daily paper that he wanted to boost police numbers in what seemed to be a move targeted at potential Le Pen voters.
JB: In light of this what stopped her winning in New Caledonia?
WZ: Possibly she was thwarted by Kanak voters who decided to vote after all. The level of abstentions in for example Ouvea was above 90 percent in the first round. This is an extreme example but a telling one as well because in the second round some Kanak population pockets voted overwhelmingly for Mr Macron. In Hienghene, he won almost 96 percent of the votes
JB: What does a Macron presidency promise?
WZ: First of all the referendum process is expected to roll on although questions remain. In practical terms, Mr Macron has spoken of investing massively in education to curb unemployment. He has promised to make it easier for people in the territories to get to France. And while he has spoken of cuts to the French bureaucracy, he says he won't cut the indexed wages of French public servants.
