New Caledonia: Location, Capital, and New Political Status

Noumea, New Caledonia

Content:

• What is New Caledonia?
• Authorities and political forces of New Caledonia
• Who are the Kanaks?
• How the archipelago came under French control
• New Caledonia independence movement
• Political crisis after the 2024 protests
• Status Prospects and the 2026 Referendum

What is New Caledonia?

New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a French overseas territory in the southwest Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,500 km east of Australia and near Vanuatu. it is located in an archipelago that includes Grande-Terre Island (New Caledonia), the Loyalty Islands, the Belep Archipelago, Île des Pins, and the Chesterfield Islands. The archipelago covers approximately 18,500 square kilometers, and its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) exceeds 1.4 million square kilometers (13% of France's EEZ).

The population is 264,600, including over 110,000 Kanaks (an indigenous Melanesian people). The administrative center is Nouméa. New Caledonia is divided into three provinces—South, North, and Loyalty Islands—comprising 33 communes. The majority of the population (75%) lives in the South Province, where the capital and the cities of its metropolitan area are located. The economy is based on nickel mining and processing (approximately 9% of GRP), employing 12,000 people (20% of the economically active population). Budget transfers from Paris play a significant role. The currency is the Pacific franc. New Caledonia is one of the richest regions in Oceania in terms of GDP per capita and economic size.

France annexed the archipelago in 1853; it was designated a separate colony in 1860, and since 1946, it has had the status of an overseas territory. In 1957, the Kanaks received French citizenship. Between 2018 and 2021, three referendums were held on the islands, with the majority of residents choosing to remain part of France. The last vote was boycotted by the indigenous Melanesian population.

Residents of New Caledonia's capital, Noumea, line up at a polling station to vote in the independence referendum, November 4, 2018. (Photo: Mathurin Derel / AP / TASS )

Authorities and political forces of New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special administrative entity within France—an overseas collectivity sui generis (Latin for "unique of its kind," meaning with a unique legal status). Legislative power is vested in a congress consisting of 54 deputies (officially, "councilors"). It includes delegates from each of the three provincial assemblies, which are elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The composition and powers of the congress, like those of other bodies of government in the archipelago, are regulated by Organic Law No. 99-209 of March 19, 1999, adopted in accordance with the Nouméa Accord of 1998. The congress deals with all matters not within the exclusive competence of the metropolitan region. The assembly of the South Province has the largest representation in the congress (it delegates 32 of the 40 provincial councilors to the congress).

There is also a Senate of the Indigenous People, consisting of 16 members elected by the councils of eight traditional districts (two from each) – Ot-Ma-Wap, Paichi-Chamuhi, Harachyy, Nengone, Drehu, Drubea-Kapume, and Ajiyo-Aro. Legislative and executive authorities are required to consult with it on all matters that in any way affect the culture, identity, and distinctiveness of the Kanak people. It has been in operation since 1999, and senators serve a five-year term. The chairperson, two vice-chairpersons, and two speakers are elected annually in August at the Kanak Country Congress, with the position of chairperson rotating among the district councils.

There is also a Council on Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, which performs advisory functions.

The executive branch is represented by the government (up to 11 ministers), which is formed by Congress on a proportional basis. The administering power is represented by the High Commissioner, appointed by the President of France.

Political forces in New Caledonia

For the past 40 years, the balance of political power in Congress and the government it forms has been determined by the archipelago's position on independence from France. Therefore, the main standoff has been between supporters of independence (independentists, French: indépendantistes) and loyalists (French: loyalistes), who advocate remaining part of France. Neutral forces, such as the Oceania Awakening party (French: l'Éveil Océanien), founded in 2019 and representing the interests of the Wallisian and Futunian communities, are marginal (l'Éveil Océanien has three representatives in Congress from the Southern Province), but they play a role in coalition negotiations.

Lifou, New Caledonia (Photo: Ania Freindorf / Zuma / Global Look Press)

Prominent among independence supporters are the moderate National Union for Independence (UNI, which unites the Palika and Melanesian Progressive Union parties) and the more radical Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), an alliance of left-wing parties created in 1984. Its members advocate for self-determination and full independence for the region. It comprises seven political organizations, with the Caledonian Union (UNC) playing a leading role.

Politically, they are opposed by the loyalists (French: loyalistes) - groups of parties on the right and center spectrum that advocate remaining part of France.

Historically, loyalists have shown greater sympathy among non-natives, including Europeans, as well as people of Indonesian, Polynesian, and Vietnamese descent. Geographically, opponents of independence are concentrated on the west coast of the South Province—the country's most densely populated and economically developed region, home to the capital, Nouméa, and with a large allochthonous population. Supporters of independence are more prevalent among the Kanak population, who live on the east coast of New Caledonia and the surrounding islands of the archipelago.

The 18th government was formed following the January 2025 elections. It is led by Alcides Ponga, a representative of the loyalist Rally Party.

Who are the Kanaks?

The Kanaks are a Melanesian group of peoples who make up the indigenous population of New Caledonia. Today, they comprise 41.2% of the archipelago's inhabitants (111,900 people according to the 2019 census). The Kanaks are predominantly Christian, with over 50% being Catholic, and the remainder being Protestant. They speak approximately 27 Oceanic languages, as well as French, and are geographically organized into 341 tribes. About half of the Kanaks live in the Nouméa metropolitan area; they constitute the majority in the Nord and Loyalty Provinces.

In addition to the Kanaks, the archipelago is home to Europeans (24.1%), mestizos (11.3%), Wallisians and Futunians (8.3%), as well as Tahitians, Ni-Vanuatu, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and others.

Locals play the traditional game of petanque on the beach in Noumea, New Caledonia, September 22, 2005. (Photo: Rob Griffith/AP/TASS)

How the archipelago came under French control

New Caledonia was discovered in 1774 by British explorer James Cook, who named it after the Roman name for Scotland (Latin: Caledonia). Another name for the archipelago, Caillou, originally used for the largest island, Grande-Terre, became established among the indigenous population. In 1853, the archipelago was annexed by France, and in 1860, it was established as a separate colony. From 1864 to 1897, the island was used as a place of exile for prisoners, and from the 1870s, active mining of nickel ore deposits began. In 1946, New Caledonia received overseas territory status. Thanks to its favorable climate, it was actively settled by immigrants from the French mainland and countries of the Asia-Pacific region from the 1960s and 1970s.

New Caledonia independence movement

In the early 1970s, influenced by decolonization in Asia and Oceania, an influx of migrants from France, and the emergence of a Kanak intelligentsia, political forces advocating independence from Paris began to emerge. From 1984 to 1988, the archipelago became the scene of a standoff between independence supporters and political forces loyal to France, resulting in approximately 80 deaths. In June 1988, the parties concluded the Matignon Accords with the French government, providing for the creation of three provinces and the possibility of self-determination for the territory. In 1998, the Nouméa Accord was reached, granting New Caledonia broad autonomy and stipulating three independence referendums over 20 years.

The territory was granted the status of overseas collectivity sui generis, which required amendments to the French Constitution.

Noumea, New Caledonia (Photo: Theo Rouby / AP / TASS)

However, the 2007 law froze the electoral rolls as they were in 1998: only New Caledonians on the electoral roll at that time, and their children , had the right to vote, and 8% of residents were disenfranchised.

Year Votes "for" Votes "against" Turnout Features 2018 43.30% 56.70% 81.09% 2020 46.74% 53.26% 85.64% 2021 3.51% 96.49% 43.90% The vote was boycotted by supporters of independence

The results of the last referendum (in December 2021) were influenced by calls for a boycott by pro-independence parties and organizations. They demanded that the vote be postponed until 2022 due to the pandemic.covid-19 , and after Paris's refusal, they boycotted it. Several political forces and institutions, including the Indigenous Senate and the Drubéa-Kapume Council, attempted to challenge the legality of the vote in COURT. The legitimacy of the vote, despite the massive voter abstention, was also questioned by the Pacific Islands Forum, an intergovernmental organization representing the states and territories of Oceania. Following the 2021 referendum, the trilateral dialogue between the French government, loyalists, and independence supporters reached an impasse.

Political crisis after the 2024 protests

In the spring of 2024, the French parliament approved constitutional amendments that would reform New Caledonia's electoral system, granting a vote to all French citizens who had resided on the archipelago for more than ten years. Opponents of the document argued that it could weaken the electoral rights of native residents and increase the influence of Paris (a freeze on the electoral rolls had been in effect since 1998), as nearly 25,000 people—12,400 native residents and 13,400 residents—were eligible to vote.

As a result, protests erupted on the islands in May, escalating into riots, pogroms, and clashes with police. Fourteen people were killed and over 300 injured. The French authorities deployed the armed forces and declared a state of emergency. President Emmanuel Macron personally visited New Caledonia. As a result, the reform was cancelled. The protests triggered the archipelago's sharpest decline in GRP in half a century (-13.5%).

French authorities have accused Azerbaijan of inciting a rebellion in New Caledonia. They claim that Baku is interfering in New Caledonia's affairs by supporting the independence movement there.

Noumea, New Caledonia, May 15, 2024 (Photo: Nicolas Job / AP / TASS)

Bougival Agreement of 2025

Negotiations resumed in February 2025 with the participation of Overseas Affairs Minister Manuel Valls. On July 12, 2025, in Bougival, a suburb of Paris, the French government and representatives of 18 New Caledonian political forces signed an agreement on a draft new status for the archipelago. Macron called it a "historic compromise."

Key provisions of the agreement:

• New Caledonia is granted sui generis status within France; Nouméa is granted greater rights in international relations and the economy, while retaining French citizenship and protection.
• Dual citizenship—French and New Caledonian—is being introduced (with the renunciation of the first entailing the loss of the second).
• Possibility of adopting state symbols (flag, coat of arms, anthem).
• 12,000 New Caledonians are given the right to vote.

Despite Paris's statements, the FLNKS officially rejected the agreement at an extraordinary congress on August 9, 2025, and then at a press conference in Nouméa on August 13. Dominique Fauci, Secretary General of the Kanak Union party and a member of the FLNKS politburo, stated that the text was "incompatible with the principles and achievements of our struggle." According to the FLNKS, the agreement reflects the interests of the loyalists of the Southern Province, not the Kanak people.

The French government intended to enshrine the agreement's provisions in the Constitution, but the FLNKS's rejection cast doubt on its implementation (opponents of the Bougival Agreement comprise 14 of the 54 deputies in the New Caledonian Congress). From August 20 to 23, 2025, Overseas Affairs Minister Manuel Valls visited Nouméa again for negotiations.

The strategic importance of New Caledonia for France

In May 2018, during his speech in Nouméa, Macron repeatedly emphasized the importance of New Caledonia in France's Indo-Pacific strategy. In addition to the island's geographically central location in the Indo-Pacific region and its large EEZ, rich in water resources and minerals (7% of the world's nickel reserves), France has the opportunity to participate in multilateral cooperation formats in the region: New Caledonia is a member of several regional associations, including the Pacific Community, headquartered in Nouméa, and the Pacific Islands Forum. Its representative offices operate within the French embassies in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere.

Ile des Pins, New Caledonia (Photo: Michael Runkel / imagebroker.com / Global Look Press)

Status Prospects and the 2026 Referendum

A referendum approving the Bougival Accords is scheduled to take place in New Caledonia in February 2026. The agreements also require approval by the French parliament.