Indigenous Islanders Urged to Boycott New Caledonia Independence Vote

SYDNEY - New Caledonia will hold a referendum on independence from France Sunday. It will be the third and final poll meant to conclude a decolonization process that began in the French overseas territory in the Pacific 30 years ago. Two previous votes, in 2018 and 2020, rejected independence.

Pro-independence groups wanted New Caledonia's referendum to be delayed to give Indigenous Kanaks, who make up 40% of the