The Pacific territory of New Caledonia voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to remain part of France in a third referendum. But pro-independent groups who boycotted the poll said they would not recognise the result.
With all ballots counted, 96.49 percent were against independence, while only 3.51 percent were in favour, with turnout a mere 43.90 percent, results from the islands' high commission showed.
A statement from a coalition of pro-independence groups said that they "do not recognise the legitimacy or the validity of this vote which was confiscated. This referendum did not respect the spirit or the letter of the Noumea accords."
"The path of dialogue has been broken off by the stubbornness of a French government that is incapable of reconciling its geopolitical interests in the Pacific with its obligation to decolonise our country," the statement from the main independence groups such as FLNKS said.
Speaking earlier on the France Inter radio, France's minister in charge of overseas territories defended the result, saying it had full legal force.
"Whatever the turnout level, legally speaking it's a vote that has the same weight as the two previous ones that returned a 'No' vote," Sebastien Lecornu said, referring to two previous referendums in 2018 and 2020.
He admitted that "politically it means something: we need to look at this division."
Pro-independence campaigners boycotted the vote, saying they wanted it postponed to September because "a fair campaign" was impossible with high coronavirus infection numbers.
The result could exacerbate long-standing ethnic tensions, with the poorer indigenous Kanak community who generally favour independence staying away from polling booths on Sunday.
'Declaration of war'
Although President Emmanuel Macron noted "the high abstention rates" he said France could be "proud" of a more than 30-year process designed to settle the islands' status under which residents were asked in three separate referendums if they wished to break away.
"Tonight France is more beautiful because New Caledonia has decided to stay part of it," Macron said earlier in a recorded video message that made no direct mention of the boycott.
The wealthier white community turned out in large numbers.
"We have decided in our souls and consciences to remain French," Sonia Backes, a senior pro-France figure, told supporters on Sunday evening.
"The sad dreams of an independence at the cost of ruin, of exclusion and misery have crashed on the reef of our pioneering spirit, our resilience and our love for our own land," she added.
The main indigenous pro-independence movement, the FLNKS, had called the government's insistence on going ahead with the referendum "a declaration of war".
Kanaks had also been called by their traditional community leaders to observe a day's mourning on Sunday for those killed by the coronavirus.
Region in flux
At stake in the vote was one of France's biggest overseas territories which is home to about 10 percent of the world's reserves of nickel, which is used to make stainless steel, batteries and mobile phones.
The islands are also a key part of France's claim of being a Pacific power, with New Caledonia granting Paris rights to the surrounding ocean, as well as serving as a military staging post.
Macron said in his message that "we will have to build a place for New Caledonia in the Indo-Pacific region which is in flux and subjected to major tensions."
France has 13 separate overseas territories, home to 2.7 million people, which are generally poorer and have higher unemployment than the European mainland, leading to long-standing accusations of neglect.
Some such as French Polynesia have been granted large degrees of autonomy, which could serve as a model for New Caledonia.
Macron underlined how the three referenda had shown New Caledonia "remained profoundly divided" and spoke of "the necessary reduction in economic inequalities which weakens the unity of the archipelago".
(with AFP)
