The third referendum on the independence of New Caledonia is due to take place on Sunday. Faced with the one-year mourning period decreed by the customary Senate of the archipelago, the law firm Bourdon & associés calls to postpone the vote to October 2022.
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After the rejection of their appeal by the Council of State on December 3, the law firm Bourdon & associés asked Emmanuel Macron to postpone the referendum on the independence of New Caledonia to October 2, 2022, according to a letter of the cabinet sent to the President of the Republic on Thursday 9 December and that Franceinfo was able to consult on Friday.
The cabinet, which represents 146 voters and three associations, invokes the “respect for the dead“and”Kanak socio-cultural practices“, while in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Archipelago’s Customary Senate announced a one-year period of mourning at the beginning of last November.
“The time is not for the vote but for the respect of the dead“, estimates the law firm Bourdon & associés in its letter to Emmanuel Macron.”Nothing obliges the State to maintain this consultation on December 12, 2021. The democratic process and the stability of the archipelago would be much more strengthened by a referendum accepted by all and which takes place in calm. “
“When a clan is in mourning it stops everything, because time stops“, explain the lawyers to the President of the Republic.”Hundreds of people gather at the scene of the death and then go to the village of origin of the deceased for a whole week or even a month depending on the customary status of the deceased. A year after the death and the burial of the deceased, the family and the clans meet again to end the mourning. Failure to respect these cultural and social practices can be experienced as a trauma for loved ones“.