Big turnout as New Caledonians vote in a second referendum on independence from France

New Caledonia held a referendum on Sunday asking residents if they would like the territory to become independent of France.

A man casts his vote at a polling station in Noumea, New Caledonia, as part of the 2018 independence referendum Source: AP

Polls have closed in the remote Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where people waited in lonq queues to cast their ballot in a second referendum on independence from France.

After 167 years as a French territory, more than 180,000 registered voters on Sunday answered yes or no to the question: "Do you want New Caledonia to gain full sovereignty and become independent?"

Polling stations were open until 6pm local time, with alcohol and weapons restrictions in place to curb potential violence. It will take several hours for the votes to be counted, and a result announced. 

"I waited 45 minutes. It's very important for me to vote," retiree Germaine Le Demezet said in the capital, Noumea.

I have children and grandchildren here, the future needs to be clear and we need to know what is going to happen to us.

The estimated turnout was about 80 per cent as of late Sunday, according to the Office of the High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia -- six percentage points higher than its first independence referendum in 2018. 

At the time, 43.33 per cent of voters optr for independence while 56.67 per cent were opposed.

The result was particularly disappointing for the Kanak people - New Caledonia's Indigenous population.

Many of them have long been hoping for their own country.

Should voters again reject independence this year, another referendum can be called by New Caledonia's Congress within two years.

New Caledonia was beset with years of violence in the 1980s between pro-independence forces mainly backed by the native Kanak community and pro-French forces largely supported by descendants of European settlers.

It ended with a peace deal in 1988 that provided autonomy in three provinces, two with a Kanak majority.

A 1998 agreement extended that autonomy, recognising historic injustices against the Kanaks, and setting the 2018 deadline for an independence vote, with two additional referendum votes by 2022.

New Caledonia has a population of about 269,000 and lies 1,200km east of Australia and 18,000km from Paris.