New Caledonia's new government - elected in on January 7, 2025 Photo: Congrès de la Nouvelle-Calédonie
New Caledonia's Congress on Tuesday elected its 18th government, but heavy horse-trading goes on behind the scenes to choose who will be the new President of the French Pacific territory's executive.
Under a "collegial" system of proportional representation, the new government team reflects the make-up of the 54-seat Congress and, just like the previous one, consists of eleven members.
The new 11-seat Cabinet is made up of:
- 4 members from the Loyalistes/Rassemblement (LR) caucus - Alcide Ponga, Isabelle Champmoreau, Christopher Gygès and Thierry Santa
- 3 members from the Union Calédonienne-FLNKS caucus - Gilbert Tyuienon, Mickaël Forrest and Samuel Hnepeune
- 2 members from the Union Nationale pour l'Indépendance (UNI) caucus - Adolphe Digoué and Claude Gambey
- 2 members from the Calédonie Ensemble/Éveil Océanien caucus - Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier (Calédonie Ensemble) and Petelo Sao (Éveil Océanien)
After the Congress vote, the new government members were tasked to hold their inaugural meeting, behind closed doors, with, on top of its agenda, the sensitive election of a President and Vice-President.
The last time this happened, in 2021, it took five months to elect Louis Mapou, who then became the first pro-independence Government President of New Caledonia since the post was set up as part of the 1998 Nouméa Accord.
Dunoyer's surprise resignation
Philippe Dunoyer from Caldonie Ensemble party Photo: NC la 1
But less than an hour after being elected in the new Cabinet, after a first attempt to elect a Government President, Dunoyer announced his resignation.
Instead, the next name on his party's list, Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier (who was a member of the previous government and the very minister who resigned, causing Mapou's government downfall) who will take his place.
In an express media conference after his resignation, Dunoyer said there were differences with other pro-France parties on several issues and commitments.
Dunoyer said because he did not want to delay the election of a new President, Katidjo-Monnier and Éveil Océanien Minister Petelo Sao would now support pro-France group Loyalistes-Rassemblement.
Loyalistes-Rassemblement earlier indicated its candidate would be Rassemblement-LR's new head, Alcide Ponga.
The pro-independence camp is also divided with, on one side, the Union Calédonienne group and the more moderate UNI (mostly made up of the UMP -Union Progressiste en Mélanésie- and the PALIKA -Kanak Liberation Party.
Its candidate is Samuel Hnepeune.
A fresh attempt to elect a President and a Vice-President for New Caledonia is expected to be made later this week.
Heavy polarisation and paper-thin majorities
With a backdrop of heavy polarisation and paper-thin majorities, the balance of power, this time, seems to be slightly shifting towards the election of a pro-France government President.
On Christmas Eve, a "block" resignation from one of the parties, the moderate pro-French Calédonie Ensemble, has triggered the fall of the previous government, headed by pro-independence Louis Mapou.
Mapou was New Caledonia's government President since July 2021.
The same block resignation tactics was used against Mapou's predecessor, pro-France Thierry Santa, who fell due to the resignation of the pro-independence parties. At the time, with its three members of Congress, Éveil Océanien had backed the pro-independence block.
The "kingmakers" have shifted alliances
New Caledonia's Congress voting in a new government Photo: Congrès de la Nouvelle-Calédonie
But in the first sign of a shift, in August 2024, Éveil Océanien, aptly dubbed the "king-makers" party, sided with the pro-France group to terminate pro-independence Roch Wamytan as President of Congress and elect one of its members, Veylma Falaeo to the post.
In the new government elected on Tuesday, Petelo Sao, Falaeo's top advisor, is one of the notable newcomers.
Éveil Océanien's claimed stance is a mix of rejections of both pro-France (who want New Caledonia to remain part of France) and pro-independence (who want full and short-term independence) hard-line postures.
"The solution, for New Caledonia, is neither black nor white, it is grey (...) It is to go forward some form of shared sovereignty", Éveil Océanien President Milakulo Tukumuli told public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie La Première on Sunday.
Tukumuli said this is not just a "third way", "it's the only possible way".
Mapou's difficult tenure
During his tenure, Mapou had had to deal with several challenges, including the Covid crisis, the near collapse of New Caledonia's nickel sector and, more recently, the insurrectional riots that erupted on May 13, 2024, and its social and economic consequences.
One of the main grievances against Mapou, especially invoked by Calédonie Ensemble, was his approach regarding the post-riot reconstruction French financial assistance.
While Mapou's "PS2R" plan, mainly relied on a French loan package of up to one billion Euros, Calédonie Ensemble strongly opposed this, saying this would put New Caledonia in an unsustainable debt situation.
Congress parties had, in past weeks, sent a bipartisan delegation to Paris to advocate not for a loan, but grants, as part of a five-year reconstruction plan to the tune of four billion Euros.
In local media, over the past few days, presidential candidate Philippe Dunoyer stressed the need for more cooperation between New Caledonia's top institutions: the Congress and the government.
Crucial political talks and elections ahead
The developments come as New Caledonia's government and Congress are expected to be short-lived: New Caledonia's crucial provincial elections are supposed to take place before the end of 2025.
The provincial polls for the three provinces (North, South and Loyalty Islands), in a trickle-down effect, are supposed to be a reflection of the Congress.
But even before those local elections, New Caledonia's parties are also scheduled to meet with France in a bid to reach an "inclusive" agreement on New Caledonia's political future.
The resulting agreement would serve as a successor to the ageing Nouméa Accord signed in 1998.
As part of tentative schedule announced after meeting between the Congress bipartisan delegation and French Parliament heads Gérard Larcher (Senate, Upper House) and Yaël Braun-Pivet (National Assembly, Lower House), those crucial political talks were supposed to have started before Christmas and end before the end of March 2025.
During a recent visit to New Caledonia, Larcher pleaded for the notion of "shared sovereignty" between New Caledonia and France.
However, none of those talks have yet started, at least officially.
