Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Next let's bring you some news from the French overseas territory of New
00:04Caledonia. Today authorities there have sent more police out onto the streets
00:08and shut the International Airport as well as imposed a curfew in the capital.
00:13This after protests turned violent yesterday. At issue is a plan by the
00:18government here in Paris to change New Caledonia's voting rules, a move that
00:23local leaders fear will dilute the power of the indigenous populations there. To
00:29tell us a bit more Mark Perelman our French politics editor is with me and
00:32Mark just let's start with that then why have we seen so much unrest over the
00:37past 24 hours in New Caledonia? Well because of this proposed constitutional
00:41change led by the government that's before the National Assembly today it has
00:48already been endorsed by the Senate and for a constitution to be revived you
00:53need both chambers of Parliament to convene together and vote formally. This
00:59was the plan however there is as you pointed out opposition by the native
01:06population known as the Canucks because this would change essentially the
01:12electoral body for upcoming provincial elections. There's a very specific system
01:18in New Caledonia not everyone can vote because the electoral body was frozen
01:25quote-unquote back in 2007 by then President Jacques Chirac because he knew
01:31there were tensions between the native population and those who came later on
01:37and he wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be any problem because there
01:40were peace negotiations after violent episodes in the past. Now the government
01:45says we have to change that because it's not fair anymore so we want to enlarge
01:50the body of those who are allowed to vote and there was there is a new rule
01:55that would take hold now whereby if you've been a resident for 10 years you
02:00will be able to vote in those upcoming provincial elections however there's
02:05strong opposition because the native population at least some militant groups
02:10feel that this is a way for France to keep control of the territory and so
02:17this is why you have those scenes of violence and we've seen movements by the
02:24President, the Prime Minister who spoke before the National Assembly to say okay
02:28we will not rush through this constitutional reform I'm inviting
02:34everyone to come to Paris to sit down to see if we can calm the situation down.
02:39And what is the government trying to do for the moment?
02:41Well trying to earn some time to avoid further violence and saying you know we
02:48don't want to impose our will on the populations there we need to keep the
02:54situation quiet. The problem is this is a rather technical issue but it's a
03:01symbolic issue. Why? Because it's an overseas territory there were three
03:07referendums conducted in recent years to decide whether New Caledonia should
03:13remain part of France or not. In each case the yes to remain part of France
03:18won however the last vote there was a really very strong abstention because
03:25the native population didn't accept the terms of the referendum so there is
03:29clearly a very sensitive issue of whether New Caledonia should continue to
03:35be a part of France and if so on what terms and the government hasn't been
03:39able to find a compromise to grant some autonomy what degree of autonomy and so
03:45this is why it remains a very very fraught situation there and the
03:50government is hoping that it can calm the situation by having all the
03:55different factions come to Paris for discussions but there's no guarantee all
04:01of them will agree and that this will die down in the coming hours or days.
04:04Mark Perelman, thank you.