New Caledonia has a new president: Alcide Ponga. He’s a Kanak, but not an independentist. He is the president of the Rassemblement. This is one of the loyalist parties who want New Caledonia to remain part of France. Alcide Ponga is 49 years old. He has been mayor of a small mining commune on the east coast for ten years. He succeeds the independentist Louis Mapou, who was in power for three years.
Alcide Ponga was supported by the loyalists, but also by the Éveil océanien. The EO favored a hybrid political system that could be described as independence-association with France.
A ruined Caledonia…
It should be noted that the pro-independence parties have not agreed on a pro-independence candidate. The UNI, the party of the outgoing president, did not want to support the pro-independence candidate who belongs to its pro-independence rival, the Union Calédonie.
The government has eleven members.
It will have its work cut out in a ruined Caledonia, struggling to get back on its feet after the nickel crisis and the riots in May that destroyed thousands of jobs.
