VOTERS in the French island territory of New Caledonia chose to remain a part of France today in a referendum boycotted by pro-independence groups and closely watched around the South Pacific.

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the result as a resounding confirmation of France’s role in the Indo-Pacific and announced negotiations on the territory’s future status.

Separatist activists expressed disappointment and resignation.

They had urged a delay in the vote because of the pandemic, and, angry over what they said were French government efforts to sway the campaign, they had called on their supporters to stay away from voting stations.

And they did: official results showed 96 per cent of those who took part chose to stay in France but turnout was just 42 per cent — less than half the numbers who showed up in a previous independence referendum last year, in which support for breaking away was 46.7 per cent.

A tropical storm warning also dampened enthusiasm for the vote. Voter lines snaked out of some polling stations as winds whipped palm trees on the streets of the regional capital Noumea, but turnout at others was barely a trickle.

“Tonight we are French, and we will stay that way. It’s no longer negotiable,” said Sonia Backes, president of the Southern Province region and a fervent loyalist.

The vote was monitored by the United Nations and regional powers, and came amid global efforts toward decolonisation.

New Caledonia, colonised by France under Napoleon III in the mid-19th century, is a vast archipelago of about 270,000 people lying east of Australia, 10 time zones ahead of Paris.

Sunday’s vote was the third and last in a decades-long decolonisation process that stemmed from violence in 1988 that led to the French government handing the islands broad autonomy under the Noumea Agreement.

The process was aimed at settling tensions between native Kanaks seeking independence and those who want the territory to remain part of France.

The process does not end with the last referendum. The state, separatists and non-separatists now have 18 months to negotiate a new status for the territory and its institutions within France.

The campaign and voting day were unusually calm because of the boycott call.

The question put to people in the archipelago’s 307 voting stations was: “Do you want New Caledonia to gain full sovereignty and become independent?” Masks and social-distancing measures were required.

In the first such referendum in 2018, 43.6 per cent of voters supported independence, and 46.7 per cent favoured it in a second vote held in 2020.

While support for a Yes vote seemed to be growing, the region’s first coronavirus outbreak in September threw the political debate into disarray. Until then, New Caledonia had been one of the few virus-free places left on the planet.

By November, the archipelago had reported 271 Covid-19 deaths, and the regional senate decreed a year of traditional Kanak mourning.

Independence activists felt unable to campaign out of respect for their dead and demanded the referendum be postponed.

But pro-France groups insisted the vote should take place as scheduled to end uncertainty over New Caledonia’s future and to boost its economic prospects.

Pro-independence activists said they would refuse to take part, accusing the government in Paris of imposing the referendum date and violating neutrality by publishing a document seen as casting the consequences of independence in a negative light.

France is trying to cement its presence in the Indo-Pacific region after it lost a multibillion-dollar submarine contract because of a partnership Australia formed with the United States and Britain.

The secretly negotiated submarine project, announced in September with the stated aim of countering China’s ambitions in the region, was a huge blow to France. New Caledonia hosts one of two French military bases in the Pacific.

Mr Macron said the vote sent an important message to the Indo-Pacific region while it undergoes “recomposition” and faces “strong tensions.”

The UN has supported New Caledonia’s decolonisation process and sent electoral observers to monitor Sunday’s vote. The Pacific Islands Forum also sent a delegation to observe the vote.