Who, Mathilda Lelong, on the left in the background, or Emma Grousset, in the center, will represent New Caledonia for Miss France 2024? Screenshot New Caledonia The First
Six days after the coronation of Mathilda Lelong in Nouméa, the results of the beauty contest are called into question and the Miss France committee gives itself “a right of reserve regarding the confirmation of this election”.
The event took place perfectly last Saturday in the Village shopping district, in the heart of Nouméa. For two and a half hours, the ceremony of the election of Miss New Caledonia 2023 for miss France saw seven candidates arguing over the succession of Océane Le Goff. Initially, there were to be eight but Shadé Grapignon finally withdrew. Broadcast live by the public channel Nouvelle-Calédonie La Première, the competition ended with the coronation of Mathilda Lelong (1.75m)24-year-old student with a Bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences and life and daughter of Miss New Caledonia 1996, Carole Roudeillac.
After three days of euphoria, interviews and photo shoots, the young woman suddenly learned that her title was withdrawn due to an error in calculating the votes on the part of the bailiff in charge of the ballots. . Information revealed Tuesday by our colleagues at New Caledonia The First with the revelation of the new results: relegated to the rank of third runner-up, Mathilda Lelong is ahead of Candra Paryla-Mompelat (second runner-up), Camelia Hamoudi (first runner-up) and Emma Grousset (1.80 m), the new Miss New Caledonia. The latter, a 21-year-old student at a business school in Nouméa, is the sister of world swimming champion, Maxime Grousset.
Read alsoMiss France 2024: from Tahiti to Normandy, who are the 30 elected candidates?
Informed of the situation, the Miss France company reacted Wednesday afternoon in a press release : “We take note of this dysfunction in the election and await the official report drawn up by the justice commissioner, present that evening. Pending this, the Miss France company reserves the right to confirm this election.. We had to wait until this Thursday for the Miss New Caledonia committee to communicate in turn and recognize a ” human error “ Who “in no way engages the responsibility of the committee”.
The decision of the Miss France company expected
The regional committee, organizer of this election, ures that it has not committed ” No mistake “. “After in-depth analysis and verification of the results and the report transmitted by the authority in charge of control and compliance of the election, it appears that an error in entering the scores awarded by the members of the jury to the four finalists, or at the origin of this regrettable imbroglio »explains the Miss New Caledonia committee while apologizing to the protagonists of the event. “It is indeed the proclamation of the results which is the subject of an irregularity and which led to an error in the clification of the four finalists and, in fact, in the designation of the winner of Miss New Caledonia 2023.”
The decision to validate the integration of Emma Grousset as representative of New Caledonia in the Miss France 2024 competition now rests with the Miss France company. In the event of refusal, the Oceanian archipelago could be absent from the competition on December 16 at the Zénith in Dijon.