The faces have it
p. 15 · Read in the full issue
More eloquently than any figures whether expressed absol utely, or as percentages - the photographs of the successful candidates in the July 1 elections to New Caledonia’s Terri torial Assembly, as published in the special election issue of the Noumea Paper France Australe, tell a vital part of the New Caledonian story.
Among the 15 successful candidates of the rightwing RPCR, only three physically appeared to be Islanders - Dick Ukeiwe and A. Parawi-Reybas (Kanaks), and Petolo Manuofiua (Wallisian).
Of the seven successful FNSC (Centrist) candidates, only one appeared to be an islander Melito Finau (Wallisian).
These two groupings, with their total of 22 seats, form the new majority in the assembly - 18 Caucasians and four Islanders, on the evidence of the photographs.
In the circumstances, it is not perhaps so surprising that the photographs of the 14 successful candidates for the Indepen dence Front the new opposition in the assembly contained only three of persons who appeared to be Caucasians: Francois Burck, Maurice Lenormand and Jacques Laviolette.