The FLNKS along with other pro-independence groups said on Tuesday that they would not respect the result of the referendum on independence if the date of December 12 was maintained, reiterating their slogan of non-participation. "
We, the supporters of the yes (to independence), hope that this final consultation of the Nouméa agreement takes place in a calm and peaceful climate (...) this will not be the case
", indicated in front of the press the FLNKS officials and their partners, gathered within a strategic independentist committee of non-participation. They specified that under these conditions they will not "
respect
" the result "
and that
" if necessary they "
would point out before the international community the failings of a State (French, editor's note) which does not keep its word
”.
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The separatists qualified
their decision, taken on October 20, not to take part in the election,
“
irrevocable
” and specified that they had not transmitted any propaganda material for the campaign to the vote control commission. Although it is in sharp decline, the Covid-19 epidemic, which is raging in the archipelago and has so far killed 271, is invoked by the Kanak separatists, considering that a "
fair campaign is impossible
". While the majority of the victims are Oceanians, the various containment measures did not allow the populations to carry out traditional funeral rites. “
The pain and dignity in the face of the dead is obviously the same for everyone.We're just saying our grieving culture is different
Said Marie-Pierre Goyetche of the Labor Party.
"
To feel committed
"
The separatists also recalled the words of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in October 2019 excluding "
that the third consultation can be organized between the middle of September 2021 and the end of August 2022 (...) to clearly distinguish national electoral deadlines and those specific to New Caledonia
”. Fixed last June in Paris by the state, the date of December 12 had not been the subject of a consensus between the loyalists, who support it, and the FLNKS. The pro-independence coalition has also announced that it no longer "
feels committed
" to the timetable defined last May, which opened after the referendum an 18-month transition period before a draft referendum in June 2023.
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On the other hand, the various nationalist leaders recalled that their slogan was “
non-participation and not boycott with negative connotations
” and that there was “
no call for violence
”.
Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced last week that the decision to hold the vote would take place "
within ten days
" with the health situation as the sole criterion.
As part of the decolonization process of the Nouméa Accord (1998), two referendums were held in 2018 and 2020 and rejected independence with a majority of 56.7% and then 53.3%.
