Security was high at polling stations across the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Sunday, as voters began to cast ballots in provincial elections originally scheduled for 2024.
Some 2,500 police were dispatched to guard polling stations across the archipelago as voters began casting ballots at 8:00 a.m. (2100 GMT Saturday) in the first such vote since 2019.
Sunday's ballot will determine the balance of power ahead of negotiations with France over the territory's status, with 76 councilors being elected to the territory's provincial assemblies. Fifty-four of those councilors will become members of the Congress of New Caledonia — the only body authorized to pass local laws.
Congress, headquartered in the capital Noumea, will then elect 11 members to the territory's executive, known as the collegial government.
France has been violently forced to come to terms with a number of its former colonies over the past several years [FILE: May 24, 2024]Image: Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP/picture alliance
