Southern Province president Sonia Backes (L) Photo: supplied FB
The president of New Caledonia's Southern Province Sonia Backes says she will quit her position in the French government if it fails to open up New Caledonia's electoral rolls.
Backes was made the secretary of citizenship within the French interior ministry when the prime minister Elisabeth Borne reshuffled her government in July.
Under the 1998 Noumea Accord, which is enshrined in the French constitution, voting rights in provincial elections are restricted to indigenous people and residents living in New Caledonia since the 1990s.
The anti-independence camp, in which Backes has a leading position, said restricted electoral rolls can no longer be justified after last December's vote against independence from France.
She said she would resign from the Paris job if the government didn't change the rolls or went against what New Caledonians voted for - a reference to the electorate's rejection of full sovereignty in three referendums.
Pro-independence leaders, however, insist that the rolls must not be touched, fearing a change would bury the indigenous Kanaks as a minority.
More than 40,000 French residents lack full voting rights, being allowed to vote in French national elections only.
With the three referendums under the Noumea Accord rejecting independence, discussions are to be held on the way forward.
The anti-independence side insists the opening of the electoral roll has to be integral to a new statute for a New Caledonia within France.
Last year, Paris announced plans for a new referendum in June on a new statute, but the project has been deferred in the face of the pro-independence parties' refusal to engage in the process outlined by France.
Comprehensive talks on the referendums' aftermath are due to go ahead in Paris next week, but the pro-independence signatories to the Noumea Accord now say they won't attend.
