22 Oct 2020

Paris rejects campaign accounts of Caledonia Together party

2:00 pm on 22 October 2020

The campaign accounts of the Caledonia Together party for last year's provincial elections have been voided.

Caledonia Together party celebrates its tenth anniversary

Caledonia Together party celebrates its tenth anniversary Photo: FB Caledonie Ensemble

France's highest administrative court has ruled that in the Northern province the party overspent the authorised sum by almost $US2000 or 2.7 percent.

As a consequence, the head of the list Gerard Poadja, who is one of New Caledonia's members of the French Senate, has been declared ineligible for a year.

However, the party said this would not affect his mandate in Paris which is until 2023.

It said it found it inappropriate how contributions made to the campaign were added up.

Poadja, who eight years ago was the president of the Congress, failed to win a Congress seat, reflecting the massive losses of the anti-independence Caledonia Together Party.

The party, which had earlier been the strongest force, only retained six of the 54 seats.

It still had three of the territory's four seats in France's National Assembly and Senate.

The Paris court also declared three other candidates from three other parties ineligible for failing to submit campaign accounts.

The anti-corruption watchdog Anticor said the main political groupings were responsible for a number of irregularities in last year's campaign and the results should be annulled.

Gerard Poadja

Gerard Poadja Photo: AFP

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