Posted on 19 June 2024
France will postpone its controversial electoral reform in New Caledonia, which sparked deadly riots on the overseas island territory last month, the French president announced at a press conference on June 12, 2024. The proposed constitutional amendment, announced in May, aimed to grant French citizens residing in New Caledonia for over a decade the right to vote in local elections. However, this move sparked weeks of civil unrest, resulting in at least eight deaths and causing a billion euros in damage. Many of New Caledonia’s Indigenous Kanak people, who constitute about 40 percent of the population, opposed the reform, fearing it would undermine their aspirations for independence. President Emmanuel Macron announced the suspension of the reform to allow for a return to order and local dialogue.
Source: POLICTO