28 Sep 2009

French supreme court considers annulling New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands results

3:29 pm on 28 September 2009

The French supreme court will decide within days whether to annul the results of this year's provincial election in New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands.

Noumea's daily newspaper says the expert recommendation is for the May results to be thrown out following a complaint by the Labour Party, which pointed to a range of irregularities.

The leader of the newly formed Labour Party, Louis Kotra Uregei, found that there was such a number of improperly cast proxy votes that the final results could have been different and the party could have won an additional seat.

The problem with the proxy votes arose in part because many of the Loyalty island voters live on the main island Grand Terre.

Should the court annul the result, fresh elections will have to be called for the province, which could also affect the make-up of the territory's Congress.