The French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia narrowly rejected independence in a referendum on Sunday, the archipelago's high commission said after a partial count of the votes. The anti-independence vote fell to 53.3 percent, according to the 70 percent of ballots counted, down from 56.7 percent in a previous referendum two years ago, it said. Turnout was high at 85.5 percent, the commission said, reflecting enthusiasm of voters who had formed long queues to cast their ballots. Sunday's referendum was part of a carefully negotiated decolonisation plan agreed in 1998, which ended a deadly conflict between the mostly pro-independence indigenous Kanak population and the descendants of European settlers. Another referendum can be held by 2022 so long as the poll is requested by at least a third of the local legislature. caz-cw/jh/bmm