Page 10 - IB August 2024

New Caledonia New Caledonia

French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Supplied
FRENCH POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY

UNSETTLES NEW CALEDONIA

By Nic Maclellan National Assembly to guarantee a governing majority, so any
new French government will face ongoing challenges to pass
The glitz and glamour of the Olympics hosted by France has legislation.
overshadowed an ongoing political crisis facing the French This chaos in Paris will become more evident once the
State. For weeks after snap elections for the French National Olympics and Paralympics fade from the headlines, with
Assembly, the outgoing government has been ruling by decree, obvious implications for French policy in the Pacific. If France
awaiting the appointment of a new Prime Minister. can’t govern itself, how does it hope to govern its colonies on
For people in New Caledonia, who have been living under the other side of the world?
overnight curfew since 14 May, political divisions in Paris have
caused significant delay in decision-making after the French Policing operations extended
elections. For the Government of New Caledonia and local In Noumea, French authorities claim the security situation
business leaders, there is a level of anxiety about the capacity is stabilising, as more than 3500 gendarmes, riot squads
of the French State to resolve the ongoing political and and paramilitary police continue operations around New
economic crisis, after three months of riots and protests. Caledonia, backed by military logistics. Despite this, in recent
Reacting to his significant defeat in June’s European weeks, there have been sporadic incidents, with damage to
Parliament elections, French President Emmanuel Macron businesses and properties. There have also been arson attacks
announced snap elections for the National Assembly, over on historic churches, followed by the tit-for-tat desecration of
two rounds of voting on 30 June and 7 July. The results were the burial site for Chief Atai (the Kanak customary leader who
disastrous for his presidential majority, which has not had a led the 1878 revolt against the theft of Kanak land).
governing majority in the French legislature since June 2022. On 9 August, the French High Commission reported that
The largest bloc in the new parliament is the New Popular “the forces of order have made 2343 arrests (1286 in the
Front, an alliance of nine Left-wing parties, followed by police zone and 1057 in the gendarmerie zone.” Since 14 May,
Macron’s Renaissance alliance and then the extreme-Right High Commissioner Louis Le Franc has repeatedly extended an
Rassemblement national. overnight curfew and bans on carrying weapons and alcohol
As Islands Business went to press, President Macron had sales (although the original 6pm to 6am curfew, which still
not appointed a new Prime Minister yet, and a caretaker covers the whole country, now has reduced hours of 10pm-
government was ruling by decree. Even though the New 5am).
Popular Front is the largest parliamentary bloc, Macron has Throughout June and July, tensions between police and
been reluctant to appoint their candidate as Prime Minister. stone throwing youth expanded into armed clashes, especially
However, no parliamentary group has enough members in the near the Saint Louis tribe on the road between Noumea and

10 Islands Business, August 2024