SUVA (OCEANIA FLASH) - A co-founder of former New Caledonian ruling party Avenir Ensemble (Future Together), Didier Leroux, has announced his resignation, following a call from pro-French leader Pierre Frogier for all anti-independence parties to re-unite and possibly lobby for a free association status with metropolitan France.
Leroux told local media one of the reasons behind his move was that he disapproved of the current trend on New Caledonia’s political scene, which gradually saw a return of the polarizations of the past, between pro-independence parties and those favoring a lasting relationship with France.
He said Avenir Ensemble, which he co-founded with Harold Martin weeks before the May 2004 general elections that saw its victory and the demise of long-time ruler Jacques Lafleur, was based on principles of inclusion in a multiethnic society.
He said he also disapproved of recent suggestions that the whole pro-French camp in New Caledonia should come under one single banner and be affiliated to metropolitan French ruling party UMP.
“I am not UMP, I have been pro-de Gaulle, I have also been pro-Chirac and nowadays I would rather define myself as sharing centrist views”, he said.
Leroux’s decision comes after the other co-founder of Avenir Ensemble, Harold Martin, reacted favorably to calls for a UMP affiliation of the party, a status that would make it similar to that of the “official” UMP affiliate in New Caledonia, the Rassemblement-UMP headed by Pierre Frogier.
Leroux said there was no prior consultation on the part of Martin with other components of the Avenir Ensemble before that position was publicly expressed. Martin applauded Frogier for “saying clearly” that one of the keys of New Caledonia’s future was the negotiation of allotment of powers” between local authorities and metropolitan France.
