Political Reviews
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Political Reviews 7KH5HJLRQLQ5HYLHZ,QWHUQDWLRQDO,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV nic maclellan 0HODQHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV david chappell, jon fraenkel, solomon kantha, muridan s widjojo 7KH&RQWHPSRUDU\3DFL²F9ROXPH1XPEHU¥ E\8QLYHUVLW\RI+DZDL©L3UHVV 351 382 the contemporary pacific 25:2 (2013) 13759434/new_corrected_complete_final territorial President Philippe Gomès’s _sdl_submission.pdf [accessed 25 March loyalist Calédonie Ensemble (ce, 2013] Caledonia Together) won both New Wu Bangguo. 2012. Statement by he Wu Caledonian deputy seats in Paris. In Bangguo at the Bilateral Meeting with regional relations, the ce objected to pm Bainimarama. 24 Sept. Posted on Fiji a visit to New Caledonia by Com- Government website: http://www.fiji.gov modore Voreqe Bainimarama of Fiji, .fj/index.php?option=com_content&view the head of the Melanesian Spearhead =article&id=6872:statement-by-he-wu Group, arguing that he has been a -bangguo-at-the-bilateral-meeting-with military dictator since his 2006 coup. -pm-bainimarama&catid=50:speeches& Labor unions remained active, as the Itemid=168 [accessed 25 March 2013] cost of living remained high while world nickel prices plummeted due to a slowdown in middle-class Asian demand for stainless steel. But French New Caledonia development aid continued to flow With two years left before a possible amid local concerns over lingering referendum on independence, as stipu- social and ethnic inequalities. lated in the Noumea Accord of 1998, Sarkozy had proclaimed to French local leaders struggled to position voters that he would strongly defend themselves for an “exit” from that the “eternal France” of Molière, transitional agreement. The provincial Napoleon, and Charles de Gaulle, elections of 2014 may decide whether but Hollande reminded listeners that a referendum will be held or perhaps Louis XVI lost his head to the guil- another accord will be negotiated. lotine during the French Revolution Fluctuations in metropolitan politics and it was the left’s turn to govern the have had a significant impact on New country. Hollande opposed auster- Caledonia, notably in 1958 (when ity budget cuts during the European nationalist Charles de Gaulle regained Union’s financial crisis and instead power) and 1981 (when Socialist Fran- wanted to raise taxes on the rich (bbc, çois Mitterrand became president). 20 April, 28 Sept 2012). Sarkozy had French presidential elections in May inherited the commitment of his prede- 2012 saw the fall of Gaullist Presi- cessor, Jacques Chirac, to the Noumea dent Nicholas Sarkozy after only one Accord, so transfers of self-governing term and the return to power of the powers to New Caledonia continued, Socialists for the first time since 1995, most recently in civil and commercial this time under François Hollande. law and civil security. But Sarkozy had Locally, the year-old alliance between also voiced his personal preference the loyalist Rassemblement-ump (or that the country should remain in the rump, tied to Sarkozy’s Union pour French republic, whereas Hollande un Mouvement Populaire) and the remained neutral and supported an pro-sovereignty Front de Libération open public debate among all New Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (flnks) Caledonians to decide their future suffered a setback in the June elec- status. Hollande and Sarkozy both tions to the French parliament. Former wanted to promote more competition political reviews melanesia 383 among importers who kept the cost a habitually high abstention rate in of living so high in New Caledonia, French legislative elections. Gomès but neither wanted to end the “index- attributed his success to his commit- ation” that paid French civil servants ment to a consensual solution to the and retirees almost twice what they Noumea Accord process and to his would earn in France (NC, 21 April opposition to Frogier’s change of 2012). In the second-round runoff, position in 2011 from regarding the Sarkozy won 63 percent of the ballots Kanaky flag as a terrorist symbol to in New Caledonia and 53 percent in having it raised alongside the French French Polynesia, but Hollande won tricolor. Gomès hoped to build “a little the French presidency; he also won nation within the big one [France]” by clear majorities in the two Kanak- bringing together all Caledonians for a ruled provinces of New Caledonia common destiny with a common flag, and in Wallis and Futuna (pir, 7 May not two that were once opposed. He 2012; NC, 23 April 2012). Hollande referred to South Africa, which had appointed Victorin Lurel of Guade- combined its rival flags under Nelson loupe as overseas minister, replac- Mandela’s post-apartheid regime (NC, ing a Gaullist predecessor, also from 14 June 2012). Guadeloupe. The flnks praised Lurel The ce, although loyalist, had often as a fellow “islander,” while loyalists pursued centrist, social democratic said he knew nothing about the Pacific policies, sometimes in ad hoc concert (NC, 18 May 2012). with pro-independence parties. But In the June elections, the rump lost the surprise 2011 alliance between its long monopoly over local repre- the Rassemblement-ump and the sentation in Paris when Gomès and uc-flnks had displaced the ce from Sonia Lagarde of the ce won in the the territorial presidency and from second-round runoff. At first, it had key leadership posts in the Congress. looked as if the flnks might win the The ce had then waged a heated deputy seat for the interior of the main protest campaign against the two flags island, Grande Terre, because its two policy, and even many Rassemble- main parties, the Union Calédonienne ment supporters finally helped to (uc) and Palika (Parti de Libération elect Gomès deputy against Djaiwé. Kanak), ran on the same list for once. Gomès’s second-round victory in the After receiving a plurality in the first interior district revealed that loyalists, round of voting, Jean-Pierre Djaiwé including members of the right-wing of Palika was interviewed by the local National Front, could unite against newspaper before the second round, having a pro-independence deputy in as was Gomès, who came in second in Paris (the late Rock Pidjot of the uc the interior in the first round, hav- had last filled that role from 1964 to ing been mayor of La Foa for twenty 1986). Many residents were left with a years. Djaiwé was pleased that the feeling of repolarization in the coun- reunited flnks had clearly beaten try’s politics, just when consensual the Rassemblement in his district, but negotiations were needed to complete he said that his list had to mobilize the Noumea Accord process. Yet the Kanak voters in order to overcome ce’s dramatic comeback also showed 384 the contemporary pacific 25:2 (2013) that no one should be marginal- form of local citizenship. Given the ized in the current discussions about demographic near parity between future status, including Palika, a pro- an indigenous Kanak minority (45 independence party that the uc and percent) and migrants, negotiating the the union-affiliated Labor Party had exact legal boundary between enlarged partly displaced by allying with the autonomy (or association?) and full Rassemblement last year. sovereignty is a challenging and How would these May-June elec- rather technical task. Other key issues tion results affect New Caledonia? include continuing economic devel- The country is already “autonomous” opment aid and educational training from Paris, and each of its three financed by France and by nickel provinces have significant self-gov- exports and reducing the cost of living erning powers, leading some legal and the large income gap between scholars to call it a sui generis entity settler-dominated Noumea and the (ie, no term adequately describes its mostly Kanak rural interior and place in the overseas French political islands (NC, 9 May 2012). The South system), which in effect has a “fed- Province has the largest and most mul- eral” relationship with France. The tiethnic population, as well as most Noumea Accord specifies that certain of the jobs and squatter camps, so it administrative responsibilities should wants to revise the system of divid- be delegated to the country before a ing up territorial revenues, of which it possible referendum on whether the produces 75 percent but receives back so-called reserve powers still held by only half. But the flnks has argued France (such as defense and public that the North and Islands provinces security) should also come under need half for economic “rebalancing,” local control. Hollande, like Sarkozy including the opening of a new nickel before him, has promised that France mining and processing plant at Koni- will accompany New Caledonia in ambo, while the South already has its process of emancipation as far such a plant at Doniambo and another as local citizens desire. But loyalist almost completed at Goro. concerns over juvenile delinquency Kanak independence supporters among urban Kanak (who often live in at first took heart from the reshuf- squatter camps) and purported foreign fling of metropolitan political cards threats (eg, from China or “Anglo- because the French Socialists, their Saxon” neighbors or terrorists) make longtime allies, also took command of independence unappealing to them. the National Assembly in the legisla- The demography of New Caledonia tive elections. After Hollande won was radically altered by French- the presidency, Gerard Regnier of the orchestrated immigration during a UC said that the Socialist’s “vision of nickel mining boom in the 1960s and the emancipation of New Caledonia” 1970s that ensured a settler majority, would “reassure the Caledonians... and new migrants continue to arrive, to find the necessary consensus for though laws that restrict voting and the just application of the Noumea most job hiring to long-term residents Accord.” Michel Jorda of the local are now in place, thereby creating a Socialist Party said that Sarkozy’s political reviews melanesia 385 defeat after only one term of office in Congress and the Southern Prov- resulted from his divisive leadership, ince.