New Caledonia's member of the French senate, Simon Loueckhote, has announced he will run for the post of mayor of Noumea.
The elections will be held in March.
It marks the first tiem that a Kanak politician is top of the list of candidates of the anti-independence RPC Party.
The mayor's position is currently held by Jean Leques, who also served as the territory's first president after the signing of the 1998 Noumea Accord on greater autonomy.
