The French government plans a non-binding consultation in New Caledonia by March 15, 2026, to revive the Bougival agreement. Rejected by independentists, the initiative raises significant political and legal questions. Residents will vote on this controversial text.
The French government is taking significant political and legal risks by launching an early consultation on the Bougival agreement, signed on July 12 in the Yvelines. This agreement aims to enshrine a status for New Caledonia in the French Constitution, involving the state, independentists, and non-independentists. However, it was rejected in August by the Front de libération nationale kanak et socialiste (FLNKS) and its main party, the Union calédonienne (UC).
Territory residents will be asked to vote yes or no on the agreement's text, published in the Journal officiel, in early 2026. This non-binding consultation seeks to "restore its force" to the unfinished deal but raises many questions, particularly regarding the electoral body.
The draft ordinary law organizing the vote is set for review in the Council of Ministers on December 10, then to be submitted to the Senate in early January 2026 by Naïma Moutchou, the Minister of Overseas Territories. On November 26, during a meeting of parliamentarians from the contact group on New Caledonia, Ms. Moutchou defended the plan amid skepticism. "We have deep reservations. The government lacks clarity. We do not understand its political vision," Deputy Arthur Delaporte from Calvados told Le Monde on behalf of the socialist group, which the executive is counting on to advance this institutional file.