The French Parliament has approved the postponement of provincial elections in New Caledonia, originally set for November, to June 28, 2026 at the latest. This decision, passed by the National Assembly on October 28 and the Senate on October 29, represents a first step toward resuming debates on a sensitive institutional reform. It comes amid the May 2024 violence and the fragile Bougival agreement, rejected by independentists.
The provincial elections in New Caledonia, initially scheduled for November, have been postponed to June 28, 2026 "at the latest." This measure, passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 28, with 279 votes in favor against 247, and definitively approved by the Senate on Wednesday, October 29, marks the third postponement since the serious insurrectional violence of May 2024 that plunged the territory into crisis.
The delay is tied to the future of the Bougival agreement, signed on July 12, which provides for the creation of a "State of New Caledonia" enshrined in the French Constitution. The agreement also addresses the ultrasensitive "thawing" of the electoral body, currently restricted to residents established before 1998 and their descendants—a limitation that angers the loyalist camp. Supporters of the postponement cite this thaw as justification for the delay, aiming to pave the way for a constitutional law transcribing the agreement.
However, the Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste (FLNKS), the main independentist coalition, rejected the agreement after its signing, stating there is "no Bougival agreement." The Union calédonienne has similarly opposed it. To ease tensions and revive negotiations, the government amended the title of the organic law, framing the postponement as occurring "in view of a consensual agreement on the institutional future of New Caledonia," without referencing Bougival.
During Assembly debates, independentist deputy Emmanuel Tjibaou voiced deep distrust: "The trust in the State is clearly undermined." The hasty scheduling of a constitutional bill on the parliamentary agenda has reignited frictions, highlighting ongoing divisions between independentists and non-independentists in an archipelago scarred by historical tensions.