Mauritian general election, 1886

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General elections were held for the first time in Mauritius between 11 and 20 January 1886. [1] They followed the introduction of a new constitution the previous year. The Democrats and Reformists (also known as the Oligarchs) each won five of the ten elected seats. [1]

Mauritius Island nation in the Indian Ocean

Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. The main Island of Mauritius is located about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) off the southeast coast of the African continent. The Republic of Mauritius also includes the islands of Rodrigues, Agalega and St. Brandon. The capital and largest city Port Louis is located on the main island of Mauritius.

The British colony of Mauritius received a new constitution by letters patent on 16 September 1885. It established a Council of Government of 27 members: eight ex officio members, nine appointed by the governor, and ten elected. The franchise was restricted to men, and there were property and education qualifications designed to exclude the vast majority of Indians.

Contents

Electoral system

The new constitution provided for a 28-member Council of Government, which consisted of the Governor, 12 officials, 5 appointed members and 10 elected members. [2] The ten elected members were returned from nine constituencies formed from the nine districts, which all districts returning one member except Port Louis, which returned two. [3] Voting took place in each constituency on a different day, starting in Port Louis on 11 January and ending in Grand Port on 20 January. [1]

Districts of Mauritius

The Districts of the Republic of Mauritius are the second-order administrative divisions after the Outer islands of the country. Mauritius is divided into nine districts which consist of 1 city, 4 towns and 130 villages, the capital is Port Louis.

Port Louis District District in Mauritius

Port Louis is a district of Mauritius, located in the north west of the island, it is the smallest district and has the highest population density. The district is wholly covered by Port Louis, the capital of the country. Port Louis district has an area of 42.7 km2 and the population estimate was at 119,706 as at 31 December 2015.

Grand Port District District in Mauritius

Grand Port is a district of Mauritius, situated in the east of the island. The name means "large port" in French. The district has an area of 260.3 km2 and the population estimate was at 112,997 as of 31 December 2015.

The franchise for the elections was severely limited; the right to vote was restricted to male British subjects aged 21 and over and who possessed Rs300 of immovable property or movable property worth Rs3,000, a monthly salary of Rs50, those paying rent of Rs25 a month or paying a licence duty of at Rs200 a year. People married to eligible voters, or the oldest son of a qualifying widow were also entitled to vote. [3] As a result, although the population of Mauritius was 359,688, only 4,061 people were eligible to vote, [1] of which just 253 were Asian. [4]

The rupee is the currency of Mauritius. One rupee is subdivided into 100 cents. Several other currencies are also called rupee.

Campaign

A total of 25 candidates contested the elections; led by William Newton, [1] the Reformists nominated ran candidates in all ten constituencies. The Democrats put forward nine, with their leader Onésipho Beaugeard running in two constituencies. The remaining six candidates were independents, one of whom (Arthur Pitot) also ran in two candidates. [1]

Despite the limited franchise, election notices were published in English, French, Hindustani (written in Arabic script), Tamil and Chinese. [5]

Hindustani language Indo-Aryan language

Hindustani, also known as Hindi-Urdu and historically also known as Hindavi, Dehlavi and Rekhta, is a lingua franca of Northern India and Pakistan. It is an Indo-Aryan language, deriving its base primarily from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi. The language incorporates a large amount of vocabulary from Prakrit, Sanskrit, as well as Persian and Arabic. It is a pluricentric language, with two official forms, Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu, which are its standardised registers. According to Ethnologue's 2019 estimates, if Hindi and Urdu are taken together as Hindustani, the language would be the 3rd most spoken language in the world, with approximately 409.8 million native speakers and 785.6 million total speakers.

Tamil language language

Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language of two countries: Sri Lanka and Singapore and official language of the Indian state Tamil Nadu. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. It is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.

Chinese language family of languages

Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases not mutually intelligible, language varieties, forming the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the ethnic Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. About 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats
Democrats 2,70949.215
Reformists 2,13638.805
Independents66011.990
Total5,50510010
Registered voters/turnout4,06191.7
Source: Le Mauricien

By constituency

ConstituencyCandidatePartyVotes%
Flacq
(222 registered)
Charles Adam Reformists 12559.5
Yves Pierre Jollivet Democrats 8540.5
Grand Port
(273 registered)
Henri Joseph Portal Reformists 10950.5
Edgar Gallet Democrats 6228.7
Fabien RaultIndependent4520.8
Moka
(187 registered)
Henri Leclezio Reformists 13781.5
Onéipho Beaugeard Democrats 3118.5
Pamplemousses
(270 registered)
Charles Joseph Planel Democrats 15651.8
W A Edwards Reformists 9631.9
De Evenor ChazalIndependent4515.0
Louis VigoureuxIndependent41.3
Plaines Wilhems
(653 registered)
Célicourt Antelme Democrats 40767.3
Povah Ambrose Reformists 19432.1
Arthur PitotIndependent40.7
Port Louis
(1,986 registered)
Onésipho Beaugeard Democrats 94126.4
Gustave de Conolis Democrats 87924.7
William Newton Reformists 70519.8
John Alexander FergusonIndependent52314.7
Georges Guibert Reformists 51114.4
Rivière du Rempart
(163 registered)
Edgar Antelme Democrats 6139.6
Louis Rouillard Reformists 5535.7
P L ChastellierIndependent3824.7
Rivière Noire
(115 registered)
Vincent Geoffroy Reformists 5551.4
Thorny Pitot Democrats 5147.7
Arthur PitotIndependent10.9
Savanne
(192 registered)
Virgil Naz Reformists 14980.5
Anderson James Forrester Democrats 3619.5

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 HISTOIRE: Les premières élections générales opposent Oligarques et Démocrates Le Mauricien, 26 December 2011
  2. Sydney Selvon (2012) A New Comprehensive History of Mauritius: From British Mauritius to the 21st century
  3. 1 2 Constitutional Evolution of Mauritius from British rule to Independence Government of Mauritius
  4. Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Zweiter Halbband, p1394
  5. Kenneth Ballhatchet (1995) "The structure of British official attitudes: Colonial Mauritius 1883−1968" The Historical Journal, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp989−1011