Caledonians municipal

merry-go-round

From a Noumea correspondent

Almost every New Caledonian had a friend or a cousin among the 2,413 candidates hopping on the merry-go-round of the municipal elections on March 13 and 20.

As in metropolitan France, the municipal elections are a piece of French political folklore a grassroots operation for letting off steam throughout the country. They precede the elections for the Legislative Assembly and for the presidency and are thus regarded as a testing of the political climate.

Another distinctive feature of “les municipales” is that these elections don’t really matter, except as a safety valve. The isolated New Caledonian mayor, for example, may receive generous trips to Paris, he may wear a colourful red, white and blue sash as he stands in an impressive

town hall to officiate at local wed ding ceremonies; but he has no sig nificant power. Under the French system his action is supervised and controlled by a public servant chef de subdivision, or district of fleer who is responsible to the governor.

Outside the capital, for just 451 seats, the 31 municipalities re corded 2,238 candidates forming 119 party or group lists, In Noumea, as expected, outgoing Mayor Roger Laroque led a team of prominent businessmen back to the impressive new “ mairie ” building, with socialists in second place. In land, however, saw a greater in fluence of Melanesian voters, in eluding autonomists and indepen dence-seekers, especially on the east coast and the Loyalty Islands.