Election observers from the Pacific Islands Forum have said that the low voter turnout at New Caledonia's independence referendum weighs heavily on the French territory's self-determination process.
More than 96% of voters opposed independence from France in Sunday compared to 57% in 2018 and 53% in 2020.
After a boycott by Kanak leaders, there was only a 43.9% turnout of eligible voters. They had called for France to delay polling until 2022 to allow for a traditional mourning period for Covid's 19 deaths.
The indigenous people of the archipelago who make up 40% of the population and are more likely to vote for independence have been disproportionately affected by Covid 19. More than 60% of the territory's roughly 280 deaths of Covid have been among Kanak and other Pasifika communities.
The legitimacy of Sunday's vote, the third and final referendum to be held under the 1998 Noumea Accord, was a peace deal struck to end a decade of violence, according to pro-independence groups.
Election observers from the Pacific Islands Forum, the region's main inter-governmental group, said a significant proportion of voters, mainly independence supporters, had not voted, a position that was made known before the referendum.
The spirit in which the referendum was conducted weighs heavily on the Noumea Accord and New Caledonia's self-determination process, the group said in a statement.
Civic participation is an integral part of any democracy and is critical to the interpretation and implications of Sunday's poll. The observers who are preparing to prepare a report on the election were led by Fiji's foreign minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, with forum secretary general Henry Puna also traveling to New Caledonia.
The group met with New Caledonia s Congress president Roch Wamytan before he travelled to New York to raise concerns about the referendum at the UN on Thursday, and then to France.
The result was also called into question by the Melanesian Spearhead Group, an intergovernmental organisation made up of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, as well as the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front FLNKS of New Caledonia. The MSG tweeted: We strongly support the call by FLNKS for the UN to declare the results of the 3rd Referendum null and void due to the non-participation of the people of Kanaky. Voter turnout was below 50% of registered voters and can't be taken as the legitimate wish of the silent majority! One of five island territories of France in the Indo-Pacific, New Caledonia is the centrepiece of President Emmanuel Macron's plan to increase French influence in the Pacific. The nickel-rich territory is 20,000 km from France, with a population of 41% Melanesian mostly Kanak and 24% of European origin mostly French