Major Election Victory

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Major Election Victory For Lenormand

The result of the May 24 elections in New Caledonia and the French section of the New Hebrides, for a Deputy to the French Parliament, resulted in a resounding victory for M.

Maurice Lenormand, who was re-elected.

A FEW weeks ago he flew off to Paris threatening to resign from New Caledonian politics, as a protest against what he declared was

the “whittling down” of New Caledonia’s political rights by the present French government. He later reconsidered resignation.

He apparently now has, however, to resign as Vice President of the New Caledonian Council of Min isters as he cannot hold this post and also that of Deputy. (This pre sumably is a new regulation, as he held the two posts previously; per haps it is part of the whittling down process he complained about in March).

The electoral campaign that pre ceded May 24 has been described by a Noumea correspondent as the “quietest ever. There were no pamphlets, no newspaper abuse, no posters slapped all over public and private buildings, and everyone con cerned behaved like gentlemen,”

About 48 hours before the poll, M. Parasols, an independent candi date, abandoned the struggle and declared that he was no longer run ning for office.

However, under French law his candidature still had to stand and although he polled 429 votes (even though he was not in the race), he lost his deposit, and had to pay all his electoral expenses.

Nearly 24,000 of the 36,000 en rolled electors exercised their privilege and voted—7o per cent, of them for Lenormand, except in New Hebrides where the French residents were solidly behind the New Re public Union party candidate.

Lenormand polled 4,000 votes more than he did at the last elections for Deputy, and a lot of the gain was in Noumea, previously dominated by the opposition party.

Observers think that this swing of European votes indicates that the bulk of New Caledonians, native or European, and in spite of their “Oui” vote at the September referendum, want no meddling in New Caledonian domestic affairs from Metropolitan France.

It also probably shows that after you scramble the political eggs and produce something in the nature of the Loi Cadre, it is. in these days, virtually impossible for even a de Gaulle to unscramble them.