New Caledonia govt impasse continues

Transcript

New Caledonia's government has again failed to elect a president, which means the administration remains in caretaker mode.

Today's meeting was called by the French High Commissioner in a bid to end the deadlock but no candidate secured a majority.

The territory has been without a president for five weeks.

Walter Zweifel explained how this impasse has come about:

WALTER ZWEIFEL: It goes back to before Christmas when there was a disagreement over fiscal policy and one party of this three anti-independence party coalition pulled out of the government and, by virtue of pulling out of the government, it fell. But it goes back to before Christmas.

JOHNNY BLADES: New Caledonia has this collegial system, doesn't it. How does that complicate things?

WZ: It reflects the strength of the parties in congress. It means that the parties in government should reflect the legislature. And in the case of New Caledonia, we have five ministers from the pro-independence side, and six ministers from the anti-independence side. The falling out has happened within this majority of anti-independence parties where there had been an agreement to share power: one should have control of the Southern Province, one should control of the congress, and one should have the presidency. Now with this disagreement over fiscal policy, one party pulled out and the whole agreement has fallen over.

JB: So this latest failure to get consensus, what's happened since before Christmas?

WZ: Well, with this agreement between the three parties being cast aside, the Caledonia Together Party insists that it should also have the presidency. This was previously given to Cynthia Ligeard of the Front for Unity. And because neither Mrs Ligeard or the candidate for Caledonia Together has got a chance of a majority there's no chance of electing a president. The five pro-independence members, they're just abstaining and they're saying well it's not their role to elect a loyalist president from the other side.

JB: What are the chances that the anti-independence side will be able to come together on this?

WZ: The prospects for an agreement don't look very good. The French High Commissioner has been meeting these political parties over the past week and he said after the latest failure to elect a president that he would continue with dialogue. The French government in Paris is also concerned because after all there are some important issues in the pipeline: among other things, a referendum on independence that needs to be organised. And there is apparently no chance of seeing an agreement in the current situation. Philippe Gomes, who is the leader of the Caledonia Together Party, says if there is no resolution to this and the impasse continues, there should be a fresh general election. Now, we only had an election in May and that was to elect a congress for five years. It's questionable whether the French government will accede to a demand so quickly and to call an election, but it is an option that has to be considered in this situation where we've got three parties who simply do not agree.