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Do you want the Wallis and Futuna Islands to become an integral part of the French Republic as an overseas territory? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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A referendum on becoming an overseas territory was held in Wallis and Futuna on 27 December 1959. [1] The proposal was approved by 94.37% of voters. [1] Every voter on Wallis voted in favour, whilst all but three of the votes against the proposal were cast in the Futuna Islands. (There were expatriates who voted while in New Caledonia and the New Hebrides.) [1]
The islands were and have continued to be part of France. At the time, they were a French protectorate. A year and a half after the referendum — on 29 July 1961, the islands officially became an overseas territory. [2] They have since changed status again, becoming an overseas collectivity in 2003.
Do you want the Wallis and Futuna Islands to become an integral part of the French Republic as an overseas territory?
(Original: Désirez-vous que les îles Wallis et Futuna fassent partie intégrante de la République française sous la forme d'un territoire d'outre-mer ?)
Choice | Votes | % |
---|---|---|
For | 4,307 | 94.37 |
Against | 257 | 5.63 |
Invalid/blank votes | 12 | – |
Total | 4,576 | 100 |
Registered voters/turnout | 4,695 | 97.47 |
Source: Direct Democracy |
Politics of French Polynesia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity, whereby the President of French Polynesia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of French Polynesia.
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, and Tokelau to the northeast.
The geography of France consists of a terrain that is mostly flat plains or gently rolling hills in the north and west and mountainous in the south and the east. Metropolitan France has a total size of 551,695 km2 (213,011 sq mi). It is the third largest country in Europe by area and the largest in Western Europe.
The administrative divisions of France are concerned with the institutional and territorial organization of French territory. These territories are located in many parts of the world. There are many administrative divisions, which may have political, electoral (districts), or administrative objectives. All the inhabited territories are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council and their citizens have French citizenship and elect the President of France.
A territorial collectivity, or territorial authority, is a chartered administrative division of France with recognized governing authority. It is the generic name for any territory with an elective form of local government and local regulatory authority. The nature of a French territorial collectivity is set forth in Article 72 of the Constitution of France (1958), which provides for local autonomy within limits prescribed by law.
The term overseas territory is an administrative division of France and is currently only applied to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Politics of Wallis and Futuna takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity, whereby the President of the Territorial Assembly is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government.
The French overseas collectivities are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies and other French overseas entities with a particular status, all of which became COMs by constitutional reform on 28 March 2003. The COMs differ from overseas regions and overseas departments, which have the same status as metropolitan France but are located outside Europe. As integral parts of France, overseas collectivities are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council. Though some are outside the European Union, all can vote to elect members of the European Parliament (MEPs). The Pacific COMs use the CFP franc, a currency pegged to the euro, whereas the Atlantic COMs use the euro itself. As of 31 March 2011, there were five COMs:
The Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna is the legislature of Wallis and Futuna. It consists of 20 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies. The Assembly sits in Mata Utu, the capital of the territory.
The constituency of Wallis and Futuna is a French legislative constituency covering the whole of the overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna. It is represented in the XVIth legislature by Mikaele Seo of Renaissance who defeated fellow centrist Etuato Mulikihaamea in the 2022 election.
ʻUvea is one of the three official chiefdoms of the French territory of Wallis and Futuna in Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean.
Overseas France consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonization. Some, but not all, are part of the European Union. "Overseas France" is a collective name; while used in everyday life in France, it is not an administrative designation in its own right. Instead, the five overseas regions have exactly the same administrative status as the metropolitan regions; the five overseas collectivities are semi-autonomous; and New Caledonia is an autonomous territory. Overseas France includes island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, French Guiana on the South American continent, and several peri-Antarctic islands as well as a claim in Antarctica. Excluding the district of Adélie Land, where French sovereignty is effective de jure by French law, but where the French exclusive claim on this part of Antarctica is frozen by the Antarctic Treaty, overseas France covers a land area of 120,396 km2 (46,485 sq mi) and accounts for 18.0% of the French Republic's land territory. Its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 9,825,538 km2 (3,793,661 sq mi) accounts for 96.7% of the EEZ of the French Republic.
Nivaleta Iloai was a politician from Wallis and Futuna. She served as the first female president of the Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna from April 1 to December 11, 2013, as well as November 26, 2020 to March 25, 2022.
Prostitution in Overseas France varies from area to area with regard to extent, law enforcement and legality.
A by-election was held in Wallis and Futuna's 1st constituency on 15 April 2018. The by-election was called after the Constitutional Council invalidated the election of Napole Polutele, miscellaneous left candidate in the June 2017 legislative elections and member of the UDI, Agir and Independents group in the National Assembly, on 2 February 2018. Sylvain Brial defeated outgoing deputy Polutele in the first round of the by-election on 15 April.
Sylvain Jacques Brial is a Wallisian politician and former member of the French National Assembly.
Mikaele Kulimoetoke is a Wallisian politician and member of the Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna. He was president of the Territorial Assembly of Wallis and Futuna from 2014 to 2017. He has represented Wallis and Futuna in the Senate of France since 2020.
Loi n° 61-814 du 29 juillet 1961 conférant aux îles Wallis et Futuna le statut de territoire d'outre-mer