Political party in New Caledonia
The
Caledonian Union
(
French
:
Union caledonienne
, UC) is a
pro-independence
and the oldest
political party
in
New Caledonia
. In the latest
legislative elections
of May 10, 2009, the party won around 11.65% of the popular vote, and 9 out of 54 seats in the
Territorial Congress
.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
The Caledonian Union was born as a cross-community (multi-ethnic) autonomist party led by
Maurice Lenormand
, who was the island's sole representative in the
French National Assembly
. There he sat with the
Popular Republican Movement
, or MRP, and other
Christian democratic
parties in France. The Caledonian Union did not initially call for the independence of New Caledonia, but instead drew support from all ethnic groups in New Caledonia and campaigned for a greater degree of self-governance and local identity from France under the slogan "Two Colours, One People."
[2]
The party's first significant success was on February 8, 1953 with the election of 15 members of the Caledonian Union to the 25 seats General Council.
[3]
[4]
However, the UC opposed the arrival of
Gaullist
centralism in France, which undid most of the autonomist reforms of the
French Fourth Republic
(the
Defferre laws
). The UC grew more and more radical, and started flirting with independence, which eventually led to an outflow of the
Caldoche
members of the Caledonian Union to new loyalist parties, such as the
Rally for Caledonia in the Republic
. Combined with corruption scandals, this weakened the party considerably.
In 1977 in
Bourail
, the UC adopted a nationalist platform that changed the party's ideology from autonomism to full independence from France. This shift was supported by
Jean-Marie Tjibaou
and the rare European pro-separatists, such as Maurice Lenormand and Pierre Declercq. In 1979, the UC joined with the
Party of Kanak Liberation
(Palika) and other parties to form the Nationalist Front, which became the
Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front
(FLNKS) in 1984.
The UC was the largest faction in the FLNKS, led by Tjibaou. It was largely moderate, as opposed to the more radical Palika. Tjibaou was killed in 1989 by an extremist
Kanak
nationalist. In 2001, Roch Wamytan, the moderate leader of the UC, lost an election to Pascal Naouna, a radical. The UC has since broken with Palika within the FLNKS, which has no unitary president and is very divided.
Charles Pidjot
, Roch Pidjot's nephew, replaced Naouna in 2007. He died in 2012 and was replaced by
Daniel Goa
.
In the
2009 provincial elections
, the party won 9 seats in the
Congress of New Caledonia
and around 11.65% of the vote. However, in the
South Province
, the UC ran on a common slate with Palika and won one of the four seats won by that list.
The UC controls the provincial presidency of the
Loyalty Islands
.
Ideology
[
edit
]
The UC favour the concept of
independence-association
similar to the
Marshall Islands
. However, the UC has taken a radical stance in favour of strict adherence to the terms of the
Noumea Accord
, no talks with the loyalists. For example, the UC boycotted the visit of
Jacques Chirac
to the island in 2003.
Notes and references
[
edit
]
- ^
In the legislative elections of May 9, 2004, the party won 11.9 % of the popular vote, and 7 out of 54 seats in the Territorial Congress.
- ^
SORIANO, Eric. ≪ Tisser des liens politiques. Mobilisation electorale et vote melanesien (1946-1958) ≫ In :
En pays kanak : Ethnologie, linguistique, archeologie, histoire de la Nouvelle Caledonie
[en ligne
. Paris : Editions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2000 (genere le 16 decembre 2021). Disponible sur Internet : <
http://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/2790
>.
ISBN
9782735118793
. DOI :
https://doi.org/10.4000/books.editionsmsh.2790
- ^
Pierre Berges, Maurice Lenormand, Roch Pidjot, Mateo Aripoindi, Raphael Bouanaoue, Kowi Bouillant, Andre Caron, Doui Matayo Wetta, Luther Enoka, Louis Eschembrenner, James Haeweng, Michel Kauma, Georges Newland, Elia Thidjine, Marc Tivollier
- ^
Members of "Conseil General" from 1940 to 1957
Archived
2014-10-22 at the
Wayback Machine
, The Congress of New Caledonia (in French), 2004
|
---|
Anti-independence
| |
---|
Pro-independence
| |
---|
Neutral
| |
---|
|