Transcript
WZ: Edouard Philippe announced at the conclusion of marathon negotiations that 11000 names would be added to the electoral roll for the referendum. The roll has so far been restricted to long-term residents, that is people who arrived before 1994, and indigenous Kanaks who are on the general roll. What is new is that all people who were born in New Caledonia will be added to the list if they have been in New Caledonia for the past three years. This was a demand by the pro-French loyalists and has resulted in about 4000 names to be added to the roll.
SR: What about the position of the indigenous Kanaks?
WZ: A key demand going into the negotiations was to automatically enrol all indigenous people on the referendum roll without them first having to go on the general roll. And here agreement has been found to add another 7000 names, identified by the French authorities. What has to be noted is that Kanak groups claimed that 22000 people had to be added. This is based on the register of people with customary status but according to the French state 10,000 of these people have no address and left no trace with any authority to be able to be contacted. And for privacy reasons, it's impossible to get their names.
SR: What has been the reaction?
WZ: In general, there is relief that after years of manoeuvring and jockeying a decision has been reached on who can vote. The fear that has been articulated all along is that one side could claim after the vote that the result is not a fair and legitimate representation of what the voters wanted. Including all people born in New Caledonia has taken away the possible argument that it would amount to racial discrimination to only admit Kanaks. The challenge is now to translate this political deal into an electoral act or law, which is acknowledged to require quite a bit of work.
SR: Has it been decided what the referendum question will be?
WZ: No. Among the bickering and politicking little effort has been put into finding an agreement on what exactly the vote will be about. The Noumea Accord has provided for a phased and irreversible transfer of powers to New Caledonia and the final step should be to cede the rest to give it full sovereignty. This involves mainly justice and police which are French-run but of course also defence and foreign affairs. Options that are being thought about include choosing only some of these to then make New Caledonia an associated state. Another idea is to create a federation. It will require a fair bit of work now to find a referendum question all sides can accept.
SR: And when will the vote be.
WZ: That's not decided, but it has to before next November. The only suggestion to date is to have it on October 7th.
