Caledonian Union
|
Caledonian Union
|
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Daniel Goa |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Headquarters | Nouméa |
| Ideology | Separatism, Melanesian socialism, Christian democracy |
| National affiliation | None, close to the Socialist Party |
| European affiliation | None |
| International affiliation | None |
| European Parliament group | None |
| Colours | Green |
The Caledonian Union (French: Union calédonienne, UC) is a pro-independence political party in New Caledonia. In the latest legislative elections of May 10, 2009, the party won around 11.65% of the popular vote, and 9 out of 54 seats in the Territorial Congress.
The Caledonian Union was born as a cross-community (multi-ethnic) autonomist party led by Maurice Lenormand, who was the island's sole representative in the French National Assembly. There he sat with the Popular Republican Movement, or MRP, and other Christian democratic parties in France.
The party's first significant success was on February 8, 1953 with the election of 15 members of the Caledonian Union to the 25 seats General Council.
However, the UC opposed to the arrival of Gaullist centralism in France, which undid most of the autonomist reforms of the French Fourth Republic (the Defferre laws). The UC grew more and more radical, and started flirting with independence, which eventually led to an outflow of Caldoches into new loyalist parties, such as the Rally for Caledonia in the Republic. Combined with corruption scandals, this weakened the party considerably.
In 1977 in Bourail, the UC adopted a nationalist platform, supported by Jean-Marie Tjibaou (and the rare European nationalists, such as Maurice Lenormand and Pierre Declercq). In 1979, the UC joined with the Party of Kanak Liberation (FLNKS) and other parties to form the Nationalist Front, which became the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) in 1984.
...
Wikipedia