Léa Havard is a lecturer in public law at the University of New Caledonia. It analyzes the legal consequences of the third and last referendum on the accession to independence of New Caledonia, which was held on December 12, 2021 as part of the Nouméa agreement of May 5, 1998. No l ‘won with an outrageous score of 96.5%, but with an abstention of 56.1%, the separatists having called not to participate.
How do you analyze the result of the referendum of December 12?
I see it more as a failure than a success. The very high abstention rate, the fact that a large part of the population, in this case mainly those who voted yes to independence and, therefore, assimilated to the Kanak community, did not participate while it was ‘was the first concerned by the decolonization process, raise the question of the legitimacy of the result of this election. This third referendum should, in principle, have marked the beginning of a new stage. I am not sure this issue provides answers. It is more like a dead end.
Does the holding of this third referendum put an end to the Noumea agreement?
This question crisps political debates here in New Caledonia. As soon as the results were announced, the loyalists considered that the Noumea agreement was over and that one of the first consequences was the thaw of the electorate for the provincial elections. [qui devraient se tenir en 2024]. On the other hand, for the separatists, the Noumea agreement remains in force.
If we study it from a strictly legal angle, there is no doubt, from my point of view, about the answer to be given: the Nouméa agreement is not null and void, it continues to produce the same effects. legal, even if we have reached the end of the political process. The Noumea Accord is a political agreement that has acquired a legal dimension. The political aim was to initiate a process of self-determination concluded by these three referendums. There, we have come to the end: nothing is planned in the political agreement to continue this process. However, legally, the entire institutional framework resulting from this agreement continues. In the agreement itself there is no provision meaning that after the third referendum it is terminated.
Have the objectives of the Noumea Accord been achieved?
It is not necessarily up to me to decide on this issue, in terms of political objectives. Sébastien Lecornu [le ministre des outre-mer] announced that one of the next steps would be to take stock of the deployment of the Noumea Accord. We will indeed have to take stock of what is happening in terms of rebalancing, the notion of “common destiny” … This work will have to be done.
You have 43.84% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.