Jean-Marc Ayrault calls for “suspending the examination of the reform of the electoral body before the situation deteriorates”

Jean-Marc Ayrault, former Prime Minister, called Monday May 13 on franceinfo to “suspend the exam” of the “reform of the electoral body”, which is causing serious tensions in New Caledonia. He co-signed this weekend in The world a forum with Manuel Valls and Édouard Philippe inviting Matignon to take up the file. “We must restore a more global and interministerial political dimension to this issue and above all put dialogue back into the engine” he recommended.

Emmanuel Macron proposed a meeting in Paris on Sunday to relaunch the dialogue, while the National Assembly is considering Monday and Tuesday a draft constitutional law, contested by the separatists, which would allow new residents installed for less than 10 years to vote in local elections in New Caledonia. The outstretched hand of the Head of State “going in the right direction”, according to the former Prime Minister. “That means that part of our message has been heard,” he estimated.

Set up “a new dialogue commission”

Jean-Marc Ayrault is not sure that this is enough to calm the separatists who see in this bill the risk of “even further minimize the indigenous Kanak people” for the benefit of new arrivals. The specter of a bloody conflict experienced in the 1980s between loyalists and separatists resurfaces. “It’s dangerous because history teaches us that it can degenerate,” estimated Jean-Marc Ayrault. This conflict led to the Matignon Accords in 1988 under the aegis of Michel Rocard.

Obviously, the government wants to give time for discussion after Parliament’s vote: “It’s a bad method” while “the climate is very degraded, confidence has eroded, particularly with regard to the State”, estimated the former Prime Minister. Jean-Marc Ayrault fears that this will be perceived “like a forceful passage” by the separatists. It also offers “that we set up a new dialogue commission as was the case under Michel Rocard and Lionel Jospin”. According to him, “We must do it quickly, before the situation deteriorates.” The next provincial election is supposed to be held before December 15.