Heavy security deployed as New Caledonia’s crucial elections begin

Heavy security has been deployed in New Caledonia as crucial provincial elections are being held in the French Pacific territory on Sunday.

Polling stations are open from 8am Sunday local time (9am NZ time) until 6pm.

This comes as a heavy security set-up has been deployed since last.

It involves a total of some 2,500 law enforcement officers, mostly policemen and gendarmes (the equivalent of 16 squadrons, as opposed to 12 in normal circumstances), as well as additional officers from the French anti-crime squad and judiciary police.

The reinforcements are to remain posted at least until early July 2026 or longer, depending on how the situation develops.

The heavy set-up mainly focuses on security and monitoring of polling stations and their immediate surroundings.

Drones and additional armoured vehicles are also deployed on the ground, including the "Centaurs" that were previously used during and after the insurrectional riots that broke out in New Caledonia in May 2024, causing 14 dead and material damage of about €2.2 billion.

The whole security operation is meant to "reassure" the population, as well as show the presence of security forces on the ground and their capacity to intervene quickly, if needed.

The French High commission in New Caledonia said at the weekend the general climate was relatively calm ahead of the vote.

Since last week, a total ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages has been in force and will remain so until after election day.

This, the High Commission said, was because New Caledonia was still undergoing a "sensitive" period on social and economic grounds.

Latest incident on the Isle of Pines

However, on Friday evening, in the small island town of Vao, on the Isle of Pines (South off the capital Nouméa), at around midnight, police and gendarmes were called to intervene following a fire on a building located close to the Town Halls municipal council meeting room, which were to be used as a polling station for Sundays local elections.

The polling station has now been relocated to a school canteen in the same village of Vao.

As gendarmes later managed to arrest one teenager, as part of a group of five, they were also targeted by stones being thrown at them.

One of the gendarmes had to be medivaced to Nouméa.

Witnesses also said in the small building, which also hosts local power company Enercal, safes containing cash has been opened and cash stolen.

Two flags were also stolen.

Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas told local media an investigation was ongoing into the case, but that initial findings tended to indicate that the main target of the group was the electrical company's office and that subsequent damage to the designated polling station nearby could be regarded as collateral.

The perpetrators were also found to be "severely inebriated."

The latest incident has triggered swift and angry reactions from the Great Chief of the Isle of Pines, as well as from the Mayor Régis Vendegou and the government of New Caledonia, which said "nothing can justify" those actions.

No cyber threat so far

The situation regarding potential attempts of local or foreign cyber interference is also closely monitored, with the assistance of French digital watchdog agency "Viginum."

But to date, no significant threat has been reported in terms of attempts to "discredit the electoral process, jeopardise the confidence of the public in the media or trying to influence the public in favour or against a specific party or candidate."

Polling stations around New Caledonia are scheduled to close at 6pm on Sunday.

Provisional results should later start to emerge, as voting counting progresses during the evening.

As a result of the vote involving some 192,584 registered voters (according to the latest official figures), in 298 polling stations, the 76 members of New Caledonia's three provinces (22 for the Northern assembly, 40 for the Southern assembly and 14 for the Loyalty Islands) will be designated.

On a proportional basis, the three provinces will then be represented and make up the Congress of New Caledonia, consisting of 54 members.

From the new Congress, a new local "collegial" government and its President would then automatically emerge.

New Caledonia's diaspora votes by proxy

There are 127,474 registered voters in the Southern Province (where the capital Nouméa is located), 43,016 in the Northern province and 22,094 in the Loyalty Islands province.

An estimated 5,000 voters (who will be either absent from New Caledonia on polling day or who live in mainland France, Australia, New Zealand or Vanuatu) will also express themselves by proxy.