Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, about 2,000 kilometres off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island, as well as Rodrigues, Agaléga, and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Réunion, are part of the Mascarene Islands. The main island of Mauritius, where the population is concentrated, hosts the capital and largest city, Port Louis. The country spans 2,040 square kilometres (790 sq mi) and has an exclusive economic zone covering 2,300,000 square kilometres.
Politics of Mauritius takes place in a framework of a parliamentary democracy. The separation of powers is among the three branches of the Government of Mauritius, namely the legislative, the executive and the Judiciary, is embedded in the Constitution of Mauritius. Being a Westminster system of government, Mauritius's unicameral house of parliament officially, the National Assembly, is supreme. It elects the President and the Prime Minister. While the President is voted by a single majority of votes in the house, the Prime Minister is the MP who supports a majority in the house. The President is the Head of State while the prime minister has full executive power and is the Head of Government who is assisted by a council of Ministers. Mauritius has a multi-party system. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Mauritius a "full democracy" in 2022.
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.
The President of the Republic of Mauritius is the head of state of the Republic of Mauritius. Mauritius is a parliamentary republic, and the president functions as a ceremonial figurehead, elected by the National Assembly as set out by the Constitution of Mauritius. The current office-holder is Prithvirajsing Roopun. He took the office on 2 December 2019. The president's official residence is the State House.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, often shortened to the National Assembly, is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. The latest legislative elections was held on 10 April 2024. The current National Assembly held its first meeting, and also began its current four year term, on 30 May 2024. The next Speaker was elected 5 June 2024. The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats and 47 proportional representation seats; 30 of the PR seats are assigned an additional member system, while 17 PR seats use the parallel voting method.
The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate. As of 2023, the National Assembly has a maximum membership of 336, of which 266 are directly elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, while 70 are elected on reserved seats for women and religious minorities from all over the country. Members hold their seats for five years or until the house is dissolved by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. The house convenes at the Parliament House, Red Zone, Islamabad.
The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation system where half of the members are elected proportionally from nine provincial lists and the remaining half from national lists so as to restore proportionality.
The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Government of Ghana.
The National Assembly is Zambia's unicameral legislative body. Between 1972 and 1990, Zambia was a one-party state with the United National Independence Party (UNIP) as the sole legal party.
The unicameral National Assembly is the Seychelles's legislative body.
The National Assembly is Mauritius's unicameral legislature, which was called the Legislative Assembly from 1968 until 1992, when the country became a republic. Prior to 1968 and under British rule it was known as the Legislative Council. The Constitution of Mauritius provides for the parliament of Mauritius to consist of the President and the National Assembly. The parliament of Mauritius is modelled after the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, where members of parliament are voted in at regular general elections, on the basis of a first past the post system. The working language of the National Assembly is English.
Ajay Chattradhari Daby is a barrister and the former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Mauritius from 1983 to 1990. He did his secondary schooling at the Royal College of Curepipe. Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1978, Ajay Daby studied in the United Kingdom and is a member of The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, London. He is married to Geeta Prayag, a laureate of the Queen Elizabeth College and doctor from the Sheffield University.
Constituencies of Mauritius are the electoral boundaries within the Republic of Mauritius. They are also commonly referred to as Circonscriptions amongst the locals. The country follows the Westminster system and elects 60 members of parliament for a term of 5 years. There are in all 21 Constituencies in the republic, each of them returning 3 members with the exception of Constituency No 21, which returns only 2 members. The Constitution stipulates that there shall be 20 constituencies and one created specially for the Rodrigues island.
Rajkeswur Purryag, GCSK is a former Mauritian politician who served as the fifth president of Mauritius from 2012 to May 2015. He was elected president of Mauritius by the National Assembly and took office on 21 July 2012. He succeeded Sir Anerood Jugnauth, who spent nine years as president from 2003 until resigning in March 2012. Kailash Purryag previously served as Member of Parliament, Minister and Speaker of the National Assembly; he made his debut in the political arena at an early age in 1976.
The Constitution of the Republic of Mauritius does not mention any official language. The Constitution contains one statement in Article 49 that states that "the official language of the Assembly shall be English but any member may address the chair in French" which indicate that French and English are official languages of the National Assembly (parliament) only.
The mass media in Mauritius is limited by its small population size. Nonetheless, Mauritius has a robust economy, and there are a number of major media outlets, including print newspapers, radio and television stations.
Santi Bai 'Maya' Hanoomanjee GCSK is the High Commissioner of Mauritius to India. She is a Mauritian politician and former Civil Servant who was the speaker of the National Assembly of Mauritius from December 2014 to November 2019. She was the first woman to hold this constitutional office and accordingly was the highest ranked female in the republic. She is a former Minister of Health of Mauritius who served from 11 May 2010 until the coalition government of Mauritian Labour Party & Militant Socialist Movement dissolved in July 2011. She served in Navin Ramgoolam's Cabinet. She served as 2nd Member of Parliament elected in constituency no 14, Black River & La Savanne from 2005 to 2014. She is a member of the MSM and was the first woman to hold the office of Speaker.
Alan Ganoo is a Mauritian politician who has been elected to serve as member of the Legislative Assembly and National Assembly on 9 occasions.
Prithvirajsing Roopun GCSK, also known as Pradeep Singh Roopun, is a Mauritian politician serving as the seventh president of Mauritius since 2019.
Sooroojdev Phokeer is a politician and Ambassador from Mauritius who is serving as Speaker of National Assembly of Mauritius. He has been served as Ambassador to the United States from 2015 to 2019 and Ambassador to Egypt during 2001.
