The year  was a year of immobility in New Caledonia. Nothing on the institutional, economic, or societal levels seems to have changed. New Caledonian society is as tense as ever. Dialogue between the French Government, the loyalist parties, and the pro-independence parties did not resume. The political year began under the influence of the consultation organized only twenty days earlier, on  December . This was the third consultative referendum provided for by the Nouméa Accord, and it returned an extremely surprising result: no to independence obtained . percent of the votes cast. However, not even half of eligible voters participated. The yes to full sovereignty recorded , votes, the no ,, and there were, abstentionists (High Commission of the French Republic in New Caledonia ). The referendum was organized by Minister Sébastien Lecornu to put an end to uncertainty and relaunch discussions on the future of a definitively French New Caledonia. He kept the closed, yes or no question, "Do you want New Caledonia to gain full sovereignty and become independent?" without discussing the third option of associated state offered by UN resolutions. The result was that everything was blocked. On  April, the convention of the Caledonian Union, the most important