“France is more beautiful because New Caledonia has decided to stay there.
This time, Emmanuel Macron did without the conditional.
Sunday December 12, the "no" to independence won by 96.49% of the votes in the archipelago.
"There was turbulence, it sometimes rubbed on the runway, but I still have the feeling that we managed to land the Airbus of the Nouméa agreements", echoed the Minister of Overseas Territories , Sébastien Lecornu, from Nouméa.
A result widely welcomed by the political class, but put into perspective by a participation in free fall (43.90%), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France insoumise) even judging it “not legitimate”.
A "deeply divided" electoral body
The call of the separatists to boycott the election, which they demanded to be postponed by citing the Covid-19 crisis, was overwhelmingly followed.
It was only necessary to observe the attendance of the polling stations ... In the municipalities mainly inhabited by loyalists, Nouméa or Farino, long queues, despite the stifling heat.
But not a cat, in Canala, east of Grande Terre - 1.38% stake - or Hienghène, in the north, the historic capital of the independence claim.
"We cannot ignore that the electorate has remained deeply divided despite the passage of the years", admitted the president, moreover, in his speech.
Does this result, in such a context, make sense?
Sébastien Lecornu replies that we have to get out of "a binary logic" between yes and no, preferring to see "an attachment to the Republic" and "an attachment to respect and the dignity of the history of the Kanaks".
It prevents.
Even though no outbursts have taken place all day, the fear of divisions and tensions persists.
Way to anticipate the tensions, Emmanuel Macron invites to welcome this result with "respect and humility", promises the "listening" of the minister dispatched on the spot - visit which aroused the ire of the separatists.
In search of "new solutions"
The president also unrolls the list of problems to be solved in New Caledonia, economically, socially, ecologically… “There is an identity dimension in the
yes
vote
.
The response to this message must go through new solutions.
There is the recognition of the struggle of the elders against the colonizer.
But there is also the fight against today's social inequalities, discrimination, ”says Sébastien Lecornu.
This should not make us forget the delicate institutional questions on the new statute to be decided before June 2023. “Everything must now be built on new foundations.
But in the Republic, obviously, ”says Sonia Backès, one of the leaders of the loyalists.
The dialogue between all the players promises to be… complicated.
To read also "Everything is now to be built on new bases": in New Caledonia, the beginning of a transition phase
Sunday evening, the independence leaders were walled in silence, after announcing that they would not recognize the result of the referendum.
"We will make recourse at the international level so that this consultation is invalidated", assured in advance Jean Creugnet, spokesperson for the FLNKS.
They also reject any meeting with Sébastien Lecornu, before the presidential election in April 2022. The minister in return showed his willingness to give time to time - "We must let this settle.
"
Certainly, the executive avoids, four months before the presidential election, an explosive debate on the integrity of French territory in an area that has become strategic with the rise of China.
But he continues to walk on eggshells.
