New Caledonia's Congress is today scheduled to elect a new 11-member government for a five-year term.
Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Walter Zweifel
The government has to be constituted in proportion to the parties' strength in Congress.
The two anti-independence parties are expected to get six of the 11 ministries but as yet they have failed to agree on who they should then elect as a president.
The pro-independence FLNKS movement has ruled out supporting any politician of the anti-independence side, which may lead to a government impasse.
If no presidential candidate can secure at least six votes, there can be no properly constituted new government and the old government will stay on in caretaker mode.
After the last election in 2014, it took months to overcome a similar stalemate.