Paris: Voters in New Caledonia, France’s archipelago in the South Pacific, on Sunday, November 4, decided to remain French in a referendum vote.
According to partial results, about 60 per cent of 175,000 people eligible to vote — mainly descendants of colonial settlers, said “No” to the call of pro-independence indigenous Kanaks, Xinhua news agency reported.
Turnout in the referendum was 73.68 per cent.
Located more than 16,700 km from the French mainland, New Caledonia was declared a French overseas territory in 1946.