| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 70 seats in the National Assembly 35 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Constitution |
---|
General elections were held in Mauritius on 5 May 2010. [1] The coalition comprising Mauritius Labour Party under Navin Ramgoolam, the Militant Socialist Movement under Pravind Jugnauth and the Mauritian Social Democrat Party under Xavier Luc Duval won a majority with 41 seats in the parliament. [2] The Mauritian Militant Movement-led coalition under Paul Berenger finished second with 18 seats. [2] The Mauritian Solidarity Front won one seat and the Rodrigues Movement won the two remaining seats. [2] The elections were the ninth to be held since independence from the United Kingdom in 1968. [3]
The Mauritius Labour Party, Mauritian Social Democrat Party (PMSD) and Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) formed an electoral coalition called Alliance de L'Avenir (English: Alliance of the Future) for this election. [4] Ramgoolam, the alliance leader, allotted 35 seats to his own party to compete for the 60 seats on the island, whereas the MSM was given 18 and the PMSD 7. [5] Before the election, it appeared that Berenger might gain back the PM's post that he held from 2003 to 2005; he was the first prime minister since independence that was not of South Asian origin. [6] Berenger led his own alliance of parties, known as the Alliance du Coeur [7] (English: Alliance of the Heart), a reference to the official logo of the Mauritian Militant Movement, by far the biggest party in that alliance. Parties based in Rodrigues compete for the two remaining seats, with the Rodrigues People's Organisation and the Rodrigues Movement being the main parties there.
During the election, 62 seats in the National Assembly of Mauritius were contested with a further 8 seats to be designated by the electoral commission under a complex formula designed to keep a balance of ethnic groups in the parliament. [8] The candidates must declare which ethnic group (Hindu, Muslim, Chinese or "general population") they belong to in order to run for a seat. [3] In 2010, 104 of the candidates refused to do so, resulting in them being disqualified, leaving 529 candidates for the seats. [3] Around 130 foreign observers, including some from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, were present to monitor the voting process. [3]
Around 900,000 people were eligible to vote in the election. The main issues debated were economic and constitutional reform, fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and ethnicity. [9] Paul Berenger accused the incumbent government of abusing the state-owned television station, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, to influence voters. [10] He also accused his political opponents of using communalism and of negatively drawing attention to his minority Franco-Mauritian ancestry to swing voters against him. [11]
The Alliance de l'Avenir obtained 49.31% of the total votes and 41 seats whereas the Alliance du Coeur seized 42.36% of votes and 18 seats. The remaining parties and independent candidates obtained 8.14% of the votes. [2] From the 62 seats, only ten women were elected. [2]
After the Alliance de L'Avenir was declared winner of the poll, its leader, Navin Ramgoolam, mentioned that he would govern in the interest of every Mauritian so that no one would be left behind. [12] He added that the priorities of his government were the improvement of road infrastructures, the security of the people, education, health and youth development. [12] Paul Berenger, who conceded defeat after the election, said that members of his party would continue their fight for a better Mauritius. [13] He claimed that this election had not been free and fair, attributing the defeat of his alliance to numerous factors including biased coverage of the election by the state-owned television station, more financial resources by his political opponents, communalism and the electoral system. [14] However, he would be prepared to work with the government for electoral reform, especially because his alliance had obtained only 18 of the 62 seats despite seizing 43% of popular votes. [14]
On May 7, 2010, the Electoral Supervisory Commission made their decision on the non-elected candidates to occupy the 8 additional seats in the National Assembly based on the religious and ethnic declarations of the candidates not elected, a system referred to as the 'Best Loser system'. Exceptionally, instead of 8, only 7 candidates were designated. [15] Per the normal procedure, 4 best loser seats are allotted to candidates not elected but having obtained the highest percentage of votes as a member of a political party. However, they had to be of an appropriate religion or ethnic to maintain a balance in the parliament. 4 other seats are to be allotted so as not to change the result of the election. The Alliance de L'Avenir was allotted 4 additional seats whereas the Alliance du Coeur obtained 2 additional seats. [15] Whereas the Electoral Supervisory Commission had no problem in attributing one seat to one candidate of the Rodrigues People's Organisation, they had difficulty in choosing a candidate for the 8th seat, which normally has to be a Sino-Mauritian of one of the two other successful parties in this election. But given neither the Mauritian Solidarity Front nor the Rodrigues Movement had candidates of this community during this election, no candidate was named for the 8th additional seat. [15]
Observers from the African Union for this election declared that the Best Loser system is problematic for the national unity of the country though it can reinforce social cohesion. [16] They also considered the 2010 Mauritian general elections to have been 'free and transparent'. [16]
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cons | BL | Total | ||||||
Alliance de L'Avenir (PTR–PMSD–MSM) | 1,001,903 | 49.69 | 41 | 4 | 45 | |||
Alliance du Coeur (MMM–UN–MMSD) | 847,095 | 42.01 | 18 | 2 | 20 | |||
Mauritian Solidarity Front | 51,161 | 2.54 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
Rodrigues Movement | 20,933 | 1.04 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
Rodrigues People's Organisation | 18,815 | 0.93 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
Mouvement Democratique National | 13,957 | 0.69 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti Malin | 6,874 | 0.34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Forum des Citoyens Libres | 4,167 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Les Verts Fraternels | 2,722 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti Action Liberal | 2,704 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Mouvement Authentique Mauricien | 2,369 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti du Peuple Mauricien | 2,072 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Mouvement Travailleurs Mauricien | 1,862 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Mouvement Democratique Mauricien | 1,703 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti Tireurs Disables | 1,549 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Mouvement Citoyen Mauricien | 1,290 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Union Démocratique de Rodrigues | 1,059 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Front Socialiste | 840 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Union Patriots Ilois Mauricien | 752 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti Liberateur Mauricien | 559 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Unir pour Batir | 355 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Democratie Mauricienne | 290 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Socialist Labour Party | 271 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Rassemblement Socialiste Mauricien | 267 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
MSTMRA | 259 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti Socialiste Mauricien | 185 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Groupe de Cinq | 172 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Front Progressiste du Peuple Rodriguais | 168 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Parti Rodriguais Travailleur Democrate | 129 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Regional Autonomy Movement | 124 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Regroupment Jeunes Socialiste Democrate | 111 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Party Socialiste Plus | 94 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Mouvement Travailliste Socialiste | 64 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Mauritius Party Rights | 61 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Independents | 29,491 | 1.46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Total | 2,016,427 | 100.00 | 62 | 7 | 69 | |||
Valid votes | 678,992 | 99.16 | ||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 5,776 | 0.84 | ||||||
Total votes | 684,768 | 100.00 | ||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 879,897 | 77.82 | ||||||
Source: Electoral Commission, IPU |
Sir Anerood Jugnauth, GCSK, PV, was a Mauritian statesman, politician and barrister who served both as President and Prime Minister of Mauritius. He was Member of Parliament for Piton & Riviere Du Rempart. A central figure of Mauritian politics in the 1980s and 1990s, he was Leader of the Opposition from 1976 to 1982. He served four consecutive terms as prime minister from 1982 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2003. He was then elected as President from 2003 to 2012. Following his party's victory in the 2014 general elections, he served his sixth and final term as prime minister, becoming the nation's longest serving prime minister with more than 18 years of tenure, overtaking Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who held the office for 14 years.
Paul Raymond Bérenger is a Mauritian politician who was Prime Minister of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. He has been Leader of the Opposition on several occasions – from 1983 to 1987, 1997 to 2000, 2005 to 2006, 2007 to 2013, October 2013 to 15 September 2014, and again from December 2014 to December 2016 when he was replaced by Xavier-Luc Duval. Following his party's defeat in the 2014 general elections, he became Leader of the Opposition for the sixth time, making him the longest ever to serve in this constitutional position. He was also deputy prime minister from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2003, and he was a cabinet minister in the government of Anerood Jugnauth in 1982 and 1991. Bérenger, a Christian of Franco-Mauritian descent, has been the only non-Hindu prime minister of Mauritius, or, more particularly, the only prime minister who has not belonged to the Jugnauth or Ramgoolam families.
The Mouvement Militant Mauricien is a left-wing socialist political party in Mauritius. The party was founded by a group of students in the late 1960s. The MMM advocates a "fairer" society, without discrimination on the basis of social class, race, community, caste, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
Since 1967, Mauritius has experienced 12 free and fair democratic general elections to choose a government.
The Labour Party is a centre-left social-democratic political party in Mauritius. It is one of four main Mauritian political parties, along with the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD). The party is led by Navin Ramgoolam. It tends to be more popular amongst Indo-Mauritians, especially in more rural areas.
Navinchandra Ramgoolam, is a Mauritian politician who twice served as the Prime Minister of Mauritius and leader of the Labour Party (Mauritius). He was Leader of the Opposition from 1991 to 1995. He served as Prime Minister for the first time from December 1995 until September 2000, and then became Leader of the Opposition again from October 2000 to 4 July 2005. On 5 July 2005, he became prime minister for a second term after his coalition, "Alliance Sociale" won the general elections. He was re-elected Prime Minister in 2005, serving till 2014, when he was defeated.
The Militant Socialist Movement is a centre-left political party in Mauritius. It is the single largest political party in the National Assembly of Mauritius, having won 42 of the 69 seats in the 2019 general elections. It also holds the largest number of seats in all city/town councils through the country with 60 councillors out of 120. The party tends to be more popular amongst Indo-Mauritians.
General elections were held in Mauritius on 3 July 2005, with votes counted on 4 July.
General elections were held in Mauritius on 11 September 2000 to elect the members of the National Assembly.
Pravind Kumar Jugnauth is a Mauritian politician serving as the prime minister of Mauritius since January 2017. Jugnauth has been the leader of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) party since April 2003. He has held a number of ministerial portfolios and also been Leader of the Opposition.
General elections were held in Mauritius on 15 September 1991. Three main parties gained seats in this election: the Militant Socialist Movement, Mauritian Militant Movement and the Labour Party. The MSM formed an alliance with the MMM and the Labour Party formed an alliance with the Mauritian Social Democrat Party (PMSD). On 17 September 1991, results showed that MSM-MMM won 57 out of 66 seats. This gave 95% of seats to MSM-MMM leader Anerood Jugnauth and 5% to Labour Party-PMSD leader Navin Ramgoolam.
The L'Alliance de L'avenir was a political alliance in Mauritius which was formed in 2010 for the next parliamentary elections which were held on 5 May 2010. It is an alliance of the Labour Party, Mouvement Socialiste Militant and Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate. It was formed by the prime minister Dr. Navin Ramgoolam and is led by three other people, namely Rashid Beebeejaun, Xavier-Luc Duval and Pravind Jugnauth.
General elections were held in Mauritius on 21 August 1983. The result was a victory for an alliance of the Militant Socialist Movement, the Labour Party and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate, which between them won 46 seats. The Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won 32 seats, whilst the Labour Party secured nine seats and PMSD five. This alliance allowed Jugnauth to continue as Prime Minister while bringing Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Gaetan Duval back into the government after their severe defeat in the 1982 elections. Shortly after, Ramgoolam was appointed as Governor General, Duval became Deputy Prime Minister and Satcam Boolell became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Voter turnout was 85%.
Nandcoomar Bodha MP is a Mauritian politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius. He was also the Minister of Tourism & Leisure of Mauritius. He has been holding the office since 11 May 2010 to 26 July 2011, He held the same office from 2000 to 2003 in the MSM/MMM coalition government. When Pravind Jugnauth was sworn as Deputy Prime Minister, he took the office of Minister of Agriculture in 2003 up to 2005.He was appointed 8th position in the Cabinet of Navin Ramgoolam.
Kumaree Rajeshree Deerpalsing,, also known as Nita Deerpalsing, is a Mauritian politician.
General elections were held in Mauritius on 10 December 2014 and resulted in a landslide victory for the Alliance Lepep coalition, which secured 47 of the elected seats under the leadership of Sir Anerood Jugnauth. The Labour Party–Mauritian Militant Movement (PTR–MMM) alliance led by Navin Ramgoolam got 13 seats.
Shakeel Ahmed Yousuf Abdul Razack Mohamed is a Mauritian Barrister and politician.
Jayarama Valayden, most commonly known as Rama Valayden is a Mauritian lawyer, social worker and politician.
The Best Loser System (BLS) refers to the method used in Mauritius since the 1950s to guarantee ethnic representation across the entire electorate in the National Assembly without organising the representation wholly by ethnicity.
Mohummud Siddick Chady, most commonly known as Siddick Chady was a Mauritian physician, politician, and former minister. He served jail time after making news headlines for several years for his involvement in L'Affaire Boskalis, a bribery and political scandal.