Ruptly
"Rights groups and political leaders in New Caledonia called for urgent voting reforms ahead of local elections, after the French National Assembly excluded the spouses of native-born residents from voter eligibility. On Wednesday, the French parliament revised the restricted electoral roll to include more than 10,500 locally born residents who had previously been denied provincial voting rights under the strict limits of the 1998 Noumea Accord. However, an amendment allowing the spouses of those native-born residents to also cast ballots was narrowly defeated by a single vote, finishing 164–163. Speaking in Noumea, Raphael Romano, president of the civic association One Heart, One Voice, condemned the persistent restrictions on voters. "You cannot pay your taxes, you cannot work in New Caledonia, you cannot build New Caledonia and not be able to choose, to elect the representatives who determine daily life," Romano said. "So the objective is obviously to continue the legal action we have initiated before the European Court of Human Rights by requesting an expedited procedure." Political figures echoed these concerns, arguing that excluding the immediate families of locally born residents creates a democratic fracture. "In which country in the world are children forbidden from voting in local elections that choose the representatives who define the social system in which they live? It's unthinkable," underlined Virginie Ruffenach, President of Le Rassemblement, referring to the adult descendants of residents who remain locked out of the system. Philippe Dunoyer, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the New Caledonian government, noted that integrating native-born residents should have been an uncontentious compromise. "It should be recalled that natives were already integrated into the referendum list in 2018 with unanimous agreement from all political parties, without needing a global agreement. It was an anomaly that they remained outside," Dunoyer added. France's effort to expand New Caledonia's voter rolls remains deeply contentious. Macron's first push triggered major unrest in 2024. A later deal, the Bougival Accord, was signed in July 2025 to give the territory greater autonomy, but the bill to implement it failed in the French National Assembly in April 2026 after opposition from the French pro-independence Kanak leaders. Following three successive delays due to security collapses and political gridlock, New Caledonia's high-stakes provincial elections are locked in for June 28, under strict orders from France's Constitutional Council."
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