New Caledonia’s pro-independence FLNKS movement says it is sending a team to Paris before this week’s debate in the French National Assembly on a bill to change enrolment criteria for the September referendum.
The law commission has said there is no consensus for a law change and advised its rejection.
According to Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, the FLNKS is alarmed that apart from France’s ruling party the socialists favour the law change.
Under the current terms, the restricted roll for the referendum excludes non-Kanak residents, who have lived in New Caledonia for three years, unless they register as voters.
The bill wants all prospective voters born in New Caledonia to be enrolled automatically.
The FLNKS is opposed to such a change and said it wanted to give a reminder in Paris of the framework of the decolonisation process.
The referendum on 6 September will be the second of three possible under the terms of the 1999 Noumea Accord.
In 2018, just under 57 percent of voters opted for the status quo.
