The next referendum on the independence of New Caledonia from France will be held on August 30 or September 6, 2020, reports France Presse.
The deadlines were set on the night of Friday after a many-hour meeting of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe with representatives of various political forces of French possession in the Pacific Ocean. The exact date of the referendum will be announced within two weeks.
It is reported that at a meeting in Paris, supporters of independence insisted on holding a referendum in November, while representatives loyal to the metropolis wanted to vote in July.
“The Prime Minister cut the pear in half”, – one of its participants summed up the debate.
The previous independence referendum was held in New Caledonia on November 4, 2018, when most of the residents decided to remain part of a special French administrative-territorial entity.
The 1998 agreement on the sequential decolonization of the archipelago in the Pacific provides for several referendums.