Alcide Ponga, the leader of Rassemblement-Les Républicains – an anti-independence party of New Caledonia – was chosen on Wednesday as the new President of the nation in what is a further blow to the future hopes of the Kanak independence movement.

Ponga, the first Indigenous Kanak president whose policy is to remain part of France, has replaced former president Louis Mapou of the Parti de Libération Kanak in New Caledonia's snap territorial election.

Mapou's government was brought down on Christmas eve after Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier of the Calédonie ensemble party resigned his ministerial position in charge of the environment and sustainable development portfolio and refused to nominate a replacement in his party.

While most Indigenous Kanaks support pro-independence parties, the Ponga political family has long supported the pro-French Rassemblement pour la Calédonie dans la Republique party movement, rebranded as Rassemblement-Les Républicains these days.

Ponga has in the recent past been chosen as the Loyalist-Rassemblement candidate for the June 2024 elections to the French National Assembly in Paris in the second constituency of New Caledonia.

But he had since been soundly beaten by independence candidate Emmanuel Tjibaou in the second-round of voting, with the pro-independence Kanak leader winning an overwhelming 57.4 per cent to 42.5 per cent just weeks later.

Ponga's current election comes after the first attempt to decide who would be president two days earlier failed to bring out a sufficient majority within the 11-member cabinet.

During a meeting that was convened by the French High Commission on Wednesday to find a resolution and break a stalemate, Ponga received the support of six of the 11 government members.

Four government members were from his own caucus (Les Loyalistes-Rassemblement), plus the decisive votes from moderate pro-France Calédonie Ensemble's Jérémie Katidjo-Monnier and Petelo Sao of the Eveil Océanien delivered Ponga the presidential win.

Samuel Hnepeune, the candidate supported by the pro-independence camp, from the Union Calédonienne, received three votes.

A more moderate component of the pro-independence movement, Union National pour l'Indépendance and its two government members, had chosen to abstain from the vote.

Ponga, 49, takes office at a difficult time following more than six months of renewed conflict in New Caledonia after 14 people were left dead on May 13 last year while hundreds of businesses were shuttered over the Pacific island.

New Caledonian politicians must also now agree when and how to proceed with negotiations on a new political statute to replace the Noumea accord – the 1998 framework agreement that has governed New Caledonia for more than one quarter of a century.

Acknowledging his victory, Ponga said he has not underestimated the task ahead.

"It is an immense responsibility given what has happened recently," he said.

"What Caledonians are waiting for today is that we can work together and give them a signal of hope.

"We don't have much time, but all we can do is win to turn the page."

However, the new government's ambitions are complicated further by political tensions in an anti-independence bloc, as well as between the members of the pro-independence coalition Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste.

Ponga's election as President comes amidst attempts to revitalise Rassemblement, but his party is currently in an alliance with three more conservative, anti-independence parties.

In the latest congress of New Caledonia, the loyalist bloc includes the movement of Les Républicains Calédoniennes, Générations NC; and the Mouvement populaire calédonien, a breakaway faction from Ponga's Rassemblement-Les Républicains party.

All three parties want New Caledonia to remain within the French Republic, but they also have policy differences with other anti-independence groups in the congress, including the Calédonie ensemble party and the Wallisian party Eveil océanien.

The congress elected its new members of the incumbent government, which is a multi-party executive that includes both supporters and opponents of independence.

For the vote, the anti-independence, loyalist bloc forged a temporary alliance with Rassemblement-Les Républicains.

Calédonie ensemble also formed a joint list of candidates with Eveil océanien.

There were also two other groups from the pro-independence movement within the Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste and nationalists parliamentary group, and the Union nationale pour l'Indépendance.

From the vote of the 54 congress members confirmed by the government, with loyalists and Rassemblement winning four of the 11 seats to take charge of New Caledonia.

However, they still must resolve two other outstanding items on the government's agenda: the election limbo of a Vice-President and the allotment of the government's portfolios for each minister.

Under the principle of a 'collegial' cabinet, the pro-independence camp should also hold the position of Vice-President.

But the two main pro-independence groups represented in the government say they need more time to give consensus on a common candidate.

Under the organic law of New Caledonia, even if the Vice-President's position is not filled, the government is deemed to be within its rights of being fully operational seven days after all members are elected.

With general elections set for in November 2025 for the New Caledonia's three provincial assemblies and the national congress, pundits suggest tensions between government members will likely continue to grow over the coming weeks.