Independent Roche Wamitane was re-elected to the top of Congress

Independent Roch Wamitane was re-elected, Wednesday, July 28, to chair the Congress of New Caledonia, taking advantage of the divisions among loyalists, and a few months before the last independence referendum, scheduled for December 12, AFP reported. .

The last term of the Nouméa Accord (1998) runs from 2019 to 2024, and the presidency of the deliberative assembly is renewed each year.

Roch and Amitan were elected in the first round, with 29 votes out of 54, bringing together 26 elected members of the Kanak component and the National Liberation Front Socialist (FLNKS)-Union of Caledonia (UC) and the National Union for Independence. (UNI) – In addition to the Three Voices of the Oceanic Awakening (EO), a small formation of Wallisian and Futunian societies.

Twelve elected representatives abstained from voting

Milakulu Tocumuli, the EO leader, had conditioned his Loyalist vote to present a unified candidate, which the various formations of this camp had failed to do.

Despite intense discussions in recent days, the two loyalist groups — Avenir en Confiance (AEC) and Calédonie (CE, center right) — have put forward a candidate: Virginie Ruffenach and Annie Qaeze.

Department of ballot majority coalition of the ACS since M.^I Rovinach was not filled with votes, receiving only 7 out of 19 that she could count on.

Twelve elected officials abstained from the vote due to an agreement reached at the beginning of the week with the CE party on the individual nomination of Mr.^I Kays, alternately in 2022. What was rejected by Virginia Rufinach (Rassemblement-LR), a member of the AEC coalition.

‘Unprecedented institutional situation’

With the re-election of Roch and Amitan, separatists from the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front lead the two main institutions of New Caledonia after he, on July 8, took over the leadership of the collective government.

“For the first time since the Nouméa Accord, an unprecedented institutional situation is emerging”, said Mr. Wamitan, referring to “A huge challenge that must be faced compulsively and collectively”.

Whatever the outcome of the December 12 referendum, the state and Caledonian actors decided that it would be followed by an eighteen-month transition period before Project referendum by June 2023.