The constitutional reform to modify the electoral body for the provincial elections of New Caledonia will be examined on March 26 in the Senate, according to the agenda announced Wednesday by the upper house.
A solemn vote is planned for April 2 at 2:30 p.m. at the Luxembourg Palace.
The government project, announced in December, aims to unfreeze the electorate in provincial elections in order to open these elections - currently reserved for natives and residents who arrived before 1998 and their descendants - to people with at least ten years of residence in New Caledonia.
This question of the provincial elections crystallizes the discussions on the future of New Caledonia between independence and non-independence political movements, currently underway.
This vote is crucial in New Caledonia, where the provinces hold a large part of the powers.
A law to postpone the date of provincial elections
“This reform will only come into force (...) in the absence of a political agreement between local stakeholders concluded before July 1, 2024
,” Matignon warned at the end of December.
To be adopted in Parliament, the constitutional revision must be adopted by the Senate then the National Assembly in the same terms, before a meeting of Congress.
All parliamentarians will then have to approve it by a three-fifths majority.
The examination in the Assembly has not yet been set on the agenda.
An organic law must postpone the date of the provincial elections - initially scheduled for May - to the end of the year, while the constitutional revision passes.
Its examination is scheduled for February 27 in the Senate.