The Movement for Diversity (, LMD) is a right-wing

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, strongly supportive of the French status of the region; it is close to the French

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

History

Jacques Lafleur, the former leader of the major loyalist

Rally for Caledonia in the Republic The Rally (; until 2004 Rally for Caledonia in the Republic, ; from 2004 to 2014 Rally–UMP) is a conservative political party in New Caledonia. The Rally is a loyalist party, supportive of the France, French status of the region and opposed to t ...

(RPCR) left the RPCR in 2006 to found the Rally for Caledonia (RPC). The island's sole

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

, the anti-independence

Kanak The Kanaks ( French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. Kanak peoples traditionally speak diverse Austronesian languages that ...

Simon Loueckhote Simon Loueckhote (born 7 May 1957) is a French politician and a former member of the Senate of France, representing the island of New Caledonia. He is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. He served as List of Presidents of the Congress ...

joined the RPC in 2006, but in 2008, he left the party following a series of electoral defeats to form the Movement for Diversity, the LMD. Loueckhote is strongly opposed to New Caledonia's independence from France. Loueckhote is a Kanak. In the 2009 election, the LMD allied with the centrist

Future Together Future Together (, ) was a center-right political party in New Caledonia supporting the maintenance of political and administrative ties with France. The name ''l'Avenir Ensemble'' reflects the party's desire to unite New Caledonians of all ethn ...

list in the South Province, which won 16.33% in the province and two members of the LMD were elected, including Loueckhote. As a result, Loueckhote was eligible to sit in the

Congress of New Caledonia The Congress of New Caledonia (), a "territorial congress" (''congrès territorial'' or ''congrès du territoire''), is the legislature of New Caledonia. The congress is headquartered at 1 Boulevard Vauban in downtown Noumea. Local media in Ne ...

. In the

Loyalty Islands Province Loyalty Islands Province (, ) is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands () archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre. ...

, the LMD ran independently and won only 3.6%, below the 5%

threshold Threshold may refer to: Science Biology * Threshold (reference value) * Absolute threshold * Absolute threshold of hearing * Action potential * Aerobic threshold * Anaerobic threshold * Dark adaptation threshold * Epidemic threshold * Flicke ...

for seats. Political parties in New Caledonia {{oceania-party-stub