460 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:2 (2008) Shameem, Shaista. 2007a. The Assump- to the territory (since 2003 referred to tion of Executive Authority on December offi cially as a semi-autonomous “over- 5th 2006 by Commodore J. V. Bainima- seas entity”) and working toward a rama, Commander of the Republic of “common destiny” for this multieth- Fiji Military Forces: Legal, Constitutional nic society. Progress continued in the and Human Rights Issues. 3 January. development of new nickel mining Online at http://www.humanrights.org .fj/publications /2007 /Investigation% projects despite ongoing concerns over 20Report%20on%20Events%20of% environmental pollution; in economic 20December%206%202006.pdf growth, despite rising problems with a high cost of living and homelessness; ———. 2007b. The Assumption of Execu- in the recognition of Kanak cultural tive Authority on December 5th 2006 by Commodore J. V. Bainimarama, Com- identity and the teaching of Kanak mander of the Republic of the Fiji Military languages; and in the country’s role Forces: Legal, Constitutional and Human in the Pacifi c region. Militant labor Rights Issues. Part II: Report to the UN unions remained as active as ever, even High Commissioner for Human Rights forming a new Labor Party. on Alleged Breaches of International Law The rpcr had dominated local poli- and the 1997 Constitution of Fiji in the tics for many years, building a repu- Removal of the Prime Minister, Laisenia tation for not consulting much with Qarase on December 5th 2006. 29 August. other parties in making government Online at http://www.humanrights.org decisions. But in the 2004 provincial .fj/pdf/FHRCReportPartII.pdf elections, loyalist opponents and dissi- dents formed the ae coalition and won control of Congress and the Southern New Caledonia Province. Since then it has been the After three years of ad hoc, issue-by- rpcr’s turn to complain about being issue cooperation in the Congress of marginalized in government decision- New Caledonia between the loyal- making. So, starting in 2006, rpcr ist but centrist Avenir Ensemble (ae, leader Pierre Frogier began a strident or “Future Together”) and various campaign reminiscent of the fear tac- pro-independence parties in the tics that had polarized the country in Front de Libération Nationale Kanak the 1980s. In a bid to appeal to French et Socialiste (fl nks), the formerly loyalists, especially recent immigrants, dominant Gaullist Rassemblement Frogier opposed the freezing of the pour la Calédonie dans la République electorate in congressional elections (rpcr) reconfi rmed its control over and referendums on independence, New Caledonian representation in calling the concept (embedded in the the French Parliament, thanks in part Noumea Accord, which he signed in to the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy as 1998) a violation of human rights. successor to Gaullist Jacques Chirac in The fl nks, on the other hand, has the presidential election. But the new been struggling for twenty-fi ve years regime in Paris confi rmed France’s against allowing new migrants from commitment to the Noumea Accord France and its other Pacifi c territo- of 1998, which stipulates a gradual ries to vote on the country’s destiny, devolution of self-governing powers considering that in the 1970s France pol i t ical reviews • melanesia 461 orchestrated an immigration wave Loueckhote even proposed that three that brought in 25,000 people, during rather than ten years of residence a nickel boom, to make a minority of should suffi ce for all voters, and in parties wanting autonomy or indepen- January 2007 the rpcr coalition dence. The fl nks adheres strongly to warned that the fl nks and its allies the Noumea Accord, which stipulated wanted to “confi scate the right to that only those who had been resi- vote” and ultimately impose an “ultra- dents for ten years in 1998, or their communalist” notion of citizenship adult descendants, could vote in key “based on blood, and not on soil,” congressional elections or referen- thereby creating second class citi- dums. But Frogier has complained that zens (kol, 8 Jan 2007). ae territorial such a stipulation would exclude 11 President Marie-Noëlle Thémereau percent of residents who could already called Frogier “irresponsible” because vote in national, municipal, and he himself had signed the Noumea even European Union elections; and Accord (Le Monde, 15 Jan 2007). in Noumea, the capital, perhaps 20 Ironically, many loyalists now in the percent of voters would be excluded, ae had not signed the accord, and including many rpcr supporters. had also voted against its approval in Because French presidential and 1998. Despite the acrimonious debates legislative elections were approaching and demonstrations, in December in 2007, the rhetoric grew more shrill 2006 the French National Assembly as 2006 came to a close, and some adopted the frozen electorate for New members of the Gaullist allies of the Caledonian congressional elections rpcr in France, Chirac’s ump (Union in 2009 and 2014 and in the possible pour un Mouvement Populaire) joined independence referendums (NC, 15 the debate, while the Socialists (gener- Dec 2006). In January the French Sen- ally pro-fl nks) and the centrist udf ate followed suit, and the combined (Union pour la Démocratie Fran- Parliament did likewise in February, çaise, to which many ae members by 724 votes to 91 with 55 absten- adhere) tended to side with the fl nks tions, thus enshrining the principle in viewpoint to uphold the consensual the French national constitution (NC, Noumea Accord and the organic laws 18 Jan, 21 Feb 2007). that enacted it in 1999. In April and May, the French As the issue moved through met- presidential election pitted primar- ropolitan and European institutions, ily Sarkozy of Chirac’s ump against the fl nks interpretation prevailed. Ségolène Royal of the Socialists and As early as 2005, the European Court François Bayrou of the udf (former of Human Rights had approved the President Giscard d’Estaing’s party), frozen electorate, and in March 2006 though lesser candidates like anti- the French Council of Ministers did immigration Jean-Marie Le Pen of the the same. But in December 2006 and Front National (fn) and anti-global- early 2007, the rpcr nevertheless ization activist José Bové made the mobilized opponents of the concept in campaign colorful. In New Caledonia, what was clearly an electoral gambit the rpcr and some ae members who for the 2007 elections. Senator Simon belong to the ump campaigned for 462 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:2 (2008) Sarkozy, Didier Leroux of the ae cam- been 63 percent, but in the Islands paigned for Bayrou, and liberals and only 37 percent, while in the South, pro-independence supporters backed Bayrou got more votes than Royal did Royal, while the local fn supported (NC, 7–8 May 2007). In the French Le Pen and radical labor unions sup- legislative elections of May and June, ported Bové. In 2006, a French court eleven local candidates presented had convicted Le Pen of inciting racial themselves for the two deputy seats hatred because of his anti-immigra- in the National Assembly. For once, tion venom, yet in New Caledonia the fl nks showed more unity than its the immigrant fn opposes the frozen loyalist opponents did, but districting electorate as racist (bbc News, 16 and demography favored the loyal- April 2007; NC, 4 Dec 2006). After the ists: Noumea was grouped with the fi rst round of voting on 22 April, in much less populated outer islands in which a record 85 percent of French the fi rst district, and the populous voters participated, Sarkozy and Royal suburbs of the South were grouped had a run-off on 6 May, with the ump with the “Bush” (small communes and leader winning 53 percent of the fi nal Kanak tribes on Grande Terre) in the vote (bbc News, 22 April, 6 May second district. The competition was 2007). In New Caledonia, the Kanak- intense between the rpcr-ump and the ruled North and Islands provinces ae, complicated by various dissident voted about three-to-one for Royal, groups and the fn (NC, 7 May 2007). reaching as high as 93 percent in some With Jacques Lafl eur (who founded the communes, while the immigrant-domi- rpcr in 1978) and his longtime aide, nated South did the opposite, with Algerian pied noir Pierre Maresca, 80 percent of Noumeans choosing pushed to the loyalist margins in 2006, Sarkozy. Because the South is more Frogier ran in the second district for populous, overall 63 percent of New the rpcr-ump and Gaël Yanno in the Caledonians voted for Sarkozy (NC, 7 fi rst. Both Lafl eur and Maresca would May 2007). He promised to uphold run in the legislative election but with- French honor, identity, and security, out signifi cant support (NC, 16 April, and to promote economic growth 5 May, 11 May 2007). while reducing taxes (NC, 8 May Frogier argued that the Noumea 2007). Accord needed to be “dusted off” and The rpcr-ump regarded Sarkozy’s reconsidered, because it was not, he victory as a plebiscite for its loyalist said, a magic incantation nor a sacred platform, since the South, where the talisman. He claimed that the freezing turnout was 76 percent of the elector- of the New Caledonian electorate by ate, had voted overwhelmingly for France was caused more by the guilt him. The fn and many in the ae had felt by Chirac over the 1988 Ouvea also supported Sarkozy in the runoff, massacre than by real dialogue. Worse, since both are loyalist, and Loueck- the fl nks goal of a local citizenship hote conceded that the frozen elector- and favoritism in hiring for local-born ate issue did not really change much.