New Caledonia's oldest anti-independence party has confirmed Thierry Santa as its new party president, succeeding Pierre Frogier.
Thierry Santa Photo: supplied FB Rassemblement
New Caledonia's oldest anti-independence party has confirmed Thierry Santa as its new party president, succeeding Pierre Frogier.
A meeting of the Rassemblement in Dumbea overwhelmingly voted for Mr Santa, a former Congress president who since last year has been the president of New Caledonia's collegial government.
Frogier, who is one of New Caledonia's members of the French Senate, quit the party leadership two years ago.
He had succeeded Jacques Lafleur in 2005 as the leader of then dominant anti-independence party, the Rassemblement-UMP.
The Rassemblement was the overarching anti-independence party in the latter part of last century but the movement split in phases.
It has six seats in the 54-member Congress and is in coalition with other anti-independence parties, forming the Future with Confidence bloc.
In the lead-up to last month's independence referendum, the Rassemblement teamed up with other parties, including the National Rally, to form the so-called Loyalists.
The Loyalists' pro-French campaign was successful as 53 percent of the electorate voted against independence from France.
The Rassemblement is against holding a third independence referendum as desired by the rival pro-independence camp.
Rassemblement is one of the parties emanating from the erstwhile RPCR Photo: RNZ Walter Zweifel