16 Sep 2020

New Caledonia nears referendum without polls

3:54 pm on 16 September 2020

With less than three weeks to go until New Caledonia's next referendum on independence from France, no opinion poll has been released.

New Caledonia referendum posters

Posters in Noumea in lead-up to 2018 referendum Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Walter Zweifel

According to the public broadcaster La Premiere, at least three polls had been commissioned but its findings were not being published.

In the lead-up to the first independence referendum in 2018, opinion polls suggested that up to 75 percent would vote against independence.

However just under 57 percent of voters did so.

The last survey was published in March when 57 percent said they favoured the status quo, 20 percent wanted independence, with the rest being undecided or refusing to answer.

La Premiere said the French government funded a study commissioned by local politicians to gauge voter concerns over the referendum outcome.

It said its findings were not officially communicated.