New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS Movement has taken legal action to clarify electoral rolls seen as having inconsistencies.
The party has challenged in court the eligibility of about 300 people with European sounding names amid suspicion that they haven't lived in the territory since before 1998.
The residency clause applies to voters wanting to cast ballots in provincial elections.
An FLNKS official says bureaucratic hurdles hamper the registration of young Kanaks in Noumea but the city administration has formally denied this.
While registration errors have been spotted, anti-independence parties have denounced the FLNKS push as racist.
The National Front says it follows an anti-white logic.
The pro-independence camp is trying to mobilise its potential backers with the aim of securing a majority in Congress in next year's elections.
