Rightist Council In
p. 21 · Read in the full issue
Noumea
Political Situation Still Tense
From Our Own Correspondent
Noumea, May 25.
ONLY 2,062 of Noumea’s 7,106 enrolled voters went to the poll for the election of a Town Council on May 3. The poll resulted in the election of the candidates of only one party—the Union Party, a Rightist group, led by Mr. Daly and Mr. Laroque.
This will not ease the present political situation here, as the Council General (which serves New Caledonia as a whole) is, since the introduction of the new system of voting, dominated entirely by the Leftists.
M. Henri Sautot —who in 1940-45 led the South Pacific French rally to De Gaulle, and was prominent as Governor of New Caledonia —was not re-elected to the post of Mayor of Noumea, which he has held for a considerable time. He returned to NC, and became a resident of Noumea, after he retired from the French Colonial Service.
The other towns of New Caledonia will next year elect their councils under a new law, which is now being studied.