#voting reforms

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday (23 May) after a day of talks in New Caledonia that he would delay a voting reform that had triggered deadly riots on the French-ruled Pacific island, and try to seek a new political agreement. Speaking in the capital Nouméa after meeting local political leaders, Macron said his ultimate aim was still to sign the measure into law, but only if peace returned and a broader pact on the island’s future could be forged. “I am committed to ensuring that this reform will not be implemented by force,” he said in front of the French High Commission building. At least six people have died in more than a week of riots over the plans that would allow thousands more French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote. Paris says the measure is needed to improve democracy – almost a quarter of the 271,000 inhabitants identify as European, mainly French. Leaders of the indigenous Kanaks want the reform rescinded over fears it will dilute their vote and make it harder for any future referendum on independence to pass.

Armed forces were protecting New Caledonia’s two airports and port after a third night of violent riots that have killed four people, the Pacific Island’s top French official said on Thursday morning (16 May), adding at least four alleged instigators were under house arrest. In three municipalities on the French-ruled island, gendarmes faced about 5,000 rioters, including between 3,000 and 4,000 in the capital Nouméa, France’s High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said in a televised press conference. Two hundred people have been arrested, and 64 gendarmes and police injured, while road barricades put up by the protesters were causing a “dire situation” for medicine and food for the population, he added. France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia that came in force at 5 a.m. local time (1800 GMT Wednesday), giving authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the island. Police reinforcements adding 500 officers to the 1,800 usually present on the island, have been sent after rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores. Nouméa resident Yoan Fleurot told Reuters in a Zoom interview that he has seen looting and destruction of properties. Some storeowners willingly let their shelves be raided, pleading that their shops not be destroyed, he said. Fleurot said he is armed with a 16-caliber gun and has video surveillance installed around his house, adding he has only ventured out in daylight to check on his parents or his properties.

France's prime minister on Tuesday urged the restoration of calm in New Caledonia after the French Pacific archipelago was rocked by a night of rioting against a controversial voting reform that has angered pro-independence forces. Shots were fired at security forces vehicles torched and shops looted in the rioting, the worst such violence in New Caledonia since deadly unrest in the 1980s. More than 80 people were arrested. New Caledonia, which lies between Australia and Fiji, is one of several French territories spanning the globe from the Caribbean and Indian Ocean to the Pacific that remain part of France in the post-colonial era. It already has special status within France unlike other overseas territories. And while it has on three occasions rejected independence in referendums independence retains support particularly among the indigenous Kanak people. "Shots were fired at the gendarmes using high calibre weapons and hunting rifles. There have been no deaths," High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc told reporters. Authorities announced a night-time curfew Tuesday and a ban on public gatherings while the main airport was closed and the government dispatched security reinforcements from mainland France.

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NOUMEA: New Caledonia’s high commissioner said Tuesday that shots had been fired at security forces during a night of riots in the French Pacific territory that saw vehicles torched and shops looted.“There have been no deaths,” High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc told reporters, adding that “shots were fired at the gendarmes using high calibre weapons and hunting rifles”.Authorities…

In New Caledonia’s capital Nouméa on Saturday, April 13, two rival demonstrations took place, triggered by changes to the Pacific colony’s electoral rolls that are being pushed through the French parliament. The protests followed weeks of unrest and rising tensions with demonstrations involving tens of thousands. Organisers claimed that as many as 58,000 pro-independence and 35,000 pro-France marchers took part in the latest protests, under heavy security surveillance with police reinforcements from France. If accurate, the figures account for 34 percent of New Caledonia’s population of 270,000 and are the largest such gatherings since the civil war conditions that erupted in the 1980s. One of the marches was organised by a pro-independence coordination committee (CCAT) close to Union Calédonienne (UC), part of the pro-independence FLNKS umbrella that claims to represent indigenous Kanaks. The other was called by two right-wing pro-France parties, the Rassemblement and Les Loyalistes. The constitutional amendment proposes to change eligibility rules to allow citizens who have lived in the territory for at least 10 uninterrupted years to vote in local elections for the provincial assemblies and local Congress, or parliament. The change will open the door to up to an estimated 40,000 more voters, shifting the overall balance away from indigenous Kanaks as more French nationals become eligible to vote. Under the 1998 Nouméa Accord, New Caledonia’s local elections restricted voting rights to citizens born or who had resided there before 1998.

“And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do,”

Barack Obama today called for the elimination of the Senate's filibuster rule if it is used to block sweeping voting reforms, labeling the chamber's long-held 60-vote threshold a "Jim Crow relic" https://t.co/WJLLc6jmX6 pic.twitter.com/GAljLtnM0e

Sandusky, Ohio Trades Columbus Day For Election Day As A Paid Holiday (Video)

The Democratic majority of the 116th Congress wasted no time last month introducing a comprehensive democracy reform bill intended to strengthen election security, limit gerrymandering, and rewrite campaign finance laws.

One aspect of House Resolution (HR) 1, or the “For The People Act,” responds to voters’ demands for stronger voting protections, such as automatic voter registration and small-do…