Rioters blocked access to the town hall of Houaïlou, in New Caledonia, preventing the opening of polling stations for the first round of early legislative elections, the High Commission of the Republic announced in a press release on Sunday.
The high commission indicated that the gendarmerie brigade had been the target of violent attacks last night and that the situation had not yet stabilised in the commune. “Access to the town hall is blocked by the rioters, thereby preventing the opening of the various polling stations and therefore the holding of the vote,” the press release states.
Read also: “Will the elections increase the chaos?” In New Caledonia, a near-impossible campaign
Participation on the rise in the archipelago
According to figures from the high commission, participation in the first round of the legislative elections was up sharply at noon in the archipelago compared to the 2022 ballot. “The estimated turnout at 12:00 is 32.39%. In the previous election, it was 13.06% in 2022 and 15.76% in 2017,” announces the state representative. “The vote took place in the vast majority without incident and in a secure manner,” adds the press release. The only notable incident therefore concerns the polling stations located in the premises of the Houaïlou town hall.
Some 229,000 Caledonians are being called to the polls to elect the two MPs from the French territory in the South Pacific and the authorities were anticipating a much higher turnout than in the European elections, which resulted in an abstention rate of 86.5%.
As early as 7am, when the polling stations opened, long queues formed in the various polling centres in Noumea, an AFP journalist noted, with voting taking place without incident in the New Caledonian capital. The polling stations will close at 5pm local time (8am in Paris).
The constitutional project suspended by the dissolution
New Caledonia was shaken last month by unrest linked to a constitutional reform project, contested by Kanak separatists, which aims to extend the electoral body to people residing for ten years in the archipelago, which has remained frozen since the Nouméa agreement of 1998.
The constitutional project on the electorate, adopted last month in the National Assembly and which was to be ratified during a meeting of Congress in Versailles, has since been suspended due to the calling of early legislative elections.
