The independentist Louis Mapou was elected Thursday, July 8, president of the collegiate government of New Caledonia, where the third and last self-determination referendum of the Noumea Accord is due to be held on December 12.
Read also: Referendum on independence: New Caledonia facing the inevitable "day after"
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 and the member of the government from the center-right party, Caledonia together, voted white.
For lack of a candidate, the vice-presidency - which, by tradition, goes to the opposing camp - has not been awarded.
Because of this vacancy, the executive must take full office within one week at the latest.
End of five months of blocking
The election of Louis Mapou comes after almost five months of blocking the government elected on February 17, for lack of agreement between the two pro-independence components, UNI and UC, who were vying for the presidency.
An agreement was announced last week, after long negotiations.
This is the first time since the start of the decolonization process of the Nouméa Accord (1998) that a separatist has taken over the head of the executive.
It is also the first time that this position has been held by a Kanak.
“
We went to look for him, it didn't come by itself, but it's our turn.
You have to have patience and perseverance,
”said this veteran of the Kanak wrestling.
"
Ideologist
" for some, "
progressive
" for others, the man who is nicknamed Loulou said Thursday that the fight against inequalities and against the "
desperation
" of part of the Kanak youth was among his priorities. Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu addressed “
his Republican congratulations
” to Louis Mapou and invited him to a meeting soon in Paris or by videoconference.
Figure of the Kanak struggle, Louis Mapou is with the president of the North province, Paul Néaoutyine, one of the main tenors of the UNI.
Within this party, this geography graduate comes from a Marxist-inspired training, the Palika, created in 1976, a few years after the emergence of the Kanak independence claim.
The left wing of the FLNKS
A man of dialogue, Louis Mapou embodies the left wing of the FLNKS, which notably defends industrial nationalism in the key sector of nickel mining.
After studying in Nantes and Paris, he joined the Caledonian administration where he spent the first part of his career.
In particular, between 1998 and 2005, he was in charge of the Rural Development and Land Development Agency (ADRAF), responsible for land reform aimed at restoring to the Kanak clans the land looted during colonization.
From 2005 to 2014, he headed Sofinor, the economic arm of the North Province which is currently experiencing significant financial difficulties.
And since 2018, he has been a director of the French mining group Eramet, parent company of Société Le Nickel (SLN), but he will have to leave this post which he had already held from 2001 to 2014.
At the same time, this father of four children has constantly exercised responsibilities within the FLNKS but his first election did not go back until 2014. Reelected in 2019, he sits for the Southern province, led by non-separatists, and he chaired until then the UNI-FLNKS group of Congress (deliberative assembly).
