French President Emmanuel Macron's suggestion on Thursday, May 23, that he would consider a referendum "at any time" on the archipelago's electoral reform, "since there is a conforming vote of the two assemblies," provoked laughter from the region's elected representatives. They thought it was one of Macron's many provocations they have become accustomed to. So when they read this same proposal on the French daily Le Parisien website on Saturday, the same people fell off their chairs. Macron was indeed threatening to put the future of New Caledonians in the hands of the French to get out of the crisis.

Philippe Gomès, president of Caledonia Together, the moderate anti-independence faction, said in a statement that he had a "moment of amazement" on reading the article. "Cornered by a country in an insurrectionary situation that we had long announced to him, cornered by a Parliament which, from LFI [La France Insoumise, radical left] to RN [Rassemblement National, far-right] via the LR [Les Républicains, right] the president of the Sénat and the Renaissance president of the Assemblée Nationale, has said it will not vote for this reform, the president is reportedly considering a final escape route... a national referendum. This prospect is nonsense," said the former MP from New Caledonia.

The French would be asked to decide on the New Caledonian electorate without any local consensus, and contrary to the spirit of the Matignon (1988) and Nouméa (1998) Accords: the New Caledonian people would decide whether or not to become independent, but the French people would decide on the New Caledonian electorate.

Macron's proposal makes no political sense as the French, who are far removed from Melanesian issues, are likely to vote for or against Macron. However, "given the current state of the president's popularity rating, and the likely cataclysmic result of the president's party at the European elections, we can expect a massive no to the question asked," predicted Philippe Gomès.

"If I were a Kanak independent, I'd say okay go right ahead to the president, because only those who want to sanction the president would vote," said Jean-François Merle, Michel Rocard's adviser for overseas France during the negotiation of the Matignon Accords, who deemed the proposal "mind-boggling." Former prime minister Manuel Valls, meanwhile, denounced in a statement "a political and historic blunder!"

Macron is probably not seriously considering calling the French to the polls to decide who gets to vote in New Caledonia's provincial elections. He is undoubtedly using this threat to put pressure on the local players once again and to force them into a "global agreement that would enrich the text voted by Parliament."

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