Paris, Oct 4(UNI) Voters in the southern Pacific French territory of New Caledonia will on Sunday cast their ballots in a referendum to decide on whether to break away from France and become an independent state or continue to be a part of the French Republic.
This will be the second time that New Caledonia will be holding such a referendum. Two years ago, almost 57 per cent of voters voted against independence. If statehood is rejected this time again, then a third referendum may be possible only in 2022, Al Jazeera reported.
If New Caledonia chooses independence it would lead to a full devolution of powers to the territory which is home to 273,000 people, and will also see the end of subsidies from France, including nearly $1.5bn in financial support annually.
More than 180,000 people are registered to vote in the poll, in which they will be asked the question: “Do you want New Caledonia to gain its full sovereignty and become independent?”
The United Nations and the regional Pacific Island Forum are observing the vote in the archipelago, which is located 1,200km (750 miles) east of Australia and 1,350km (840 miles) west of Fiji.
Campaigning was fierce leading up to the referendum given the slim margin seen in the 2018 poll, when the No-camp won by 18,000 votes, a much narrower margin than expected.
This time around there are 6,000 additional voters.
New Caledonia was colonised by France in the mid-19th century and won greater autonomy and the right to hold up to three referendums on its political status under the Noumea Accord, signed between French and local leaders in 1998.
The agreement followed from a 1988 peace deal that ended decades of conflict between the Indigenous Kanak people and the descendants of European settlers known as the |Caldoches”.
In the 2018 referendum, the vast majority of those who voted for independence were Kanak, while those who supported continuing ties with France were either of European descent or from other non-Indigenous minority groups.
UNI XC ACL0433