Militant Socialist Movement

Militant Socialist Movement
Mouvement Socialiste Militant
Militant Socialist Movement Mouvement Socialiste Militant
Abbreviation	MSM
Leader	Pravind Jugnauth
Secretary-General	Maneesh Gobin
President	Joe Lesjongard
Vice President	Leela Devi Dookun
Founder	Anerood Jugnauth
Founded	8 April 1983
Split from	Mauritian Militant Movement
Headquarters	Sun Trust Building - 1er Etage, 31, rue Edith Cavell, Port-Louis
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Alliance Lepep
Colours	Orange
National Assembly	1 / 66
City and Town Councils	60 / 120
Website
	www.msmparty.com
	Politics of Mauritius ; Political parties ; Elections ;

Last updated December 07, 2024

The Militant Socialist Movement (French : Mouvement Socialiste Militant, MSM) is a centre-left political party in Mauritius. It was the single largest political party in the National Assembly of Mauritius, having won 42 of the 69 seats in the 2019 general elections; however, following the 2024 election, it only possesses one seat. 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.

The MSM is one of the 4 main political parties in the country; the others being the Labour Party or Parti Travailliste (PTr), Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) and Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD). The MSM is the only political party in the history of Mauritius to be formed when its office holders were in government, in sharp contrast to all other parties which were either founded in opposition or before acceding to power.^[1]^[2]

Party history

The Militant Socialist Movement emerged in 1983 out of the split between the leaders of the two main parties comprising the coalition government: the MMM founder Paul Bérenger and the Parti Socialiste Mauricien (PSM) leader, Harish Boodhoo. Soon after the 1982 elections tensions and disagreement mounted within the MMM-PSM government. For example Paul Bérenger was white-anting PM Anerood Jugnauth in many ways, such as the unauthorised replacement of the national anthem Motherland by a Creole version on 12 March 1983, harassment by MMM thugs in Quatre Bornes, MMM's proposed constitutional amendment to transfer the Prime Minister's executive powers to the Cabinet as a collective body. Prime Minister Jugnauth, a member of the MMM, rejected Bérenger's proposal and was supported by PSM's Boodhoo. The MMM finally split, with Jugnauth and his supporters merging with Boodhoo's PSM to form the MSM. Thus despite Berenger's numerous attempts at undermining him, Jugnauth remained the Prime Minister and he started to prepare for imminent general elections and Boodhoo headed the MSM's first electoral campaign. Influential members of the MMMSP such as Dev Virahsawmy, as well as Peter Craig and Dan Callikan of the FTU also assisted the new MSM. Dev Virahsawmy designed the MSM's symbol of a golden sun on a white background. In the new party Jugnauth's principal allies were Kader Bhayat, Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo, Dineshwar Ramjuttun and Ajay Daby. The new MSM set up a politburo, appointed representatives of its regional sub-committees and on Friday 8 April 1983 officially launched the party at a large public rally held at La Caverne marketplace. Bérenger sought a parliamentary vote of no confidence to replace Jugnauth with Prem Nababsing, but Jugnauth abruptly dissolved the National Assembly before it had a chance to vote. On 18 June 1983 Jugnauth dissolved the Assembly.^[3] The MSM, in coalition with the Labour Party and the PMSD, went on to win the ensuing 1983 elections and Jugnauth remained in office. In December 1985, the MSM faced a new crisis as four of its members (Thomas, Nawoor, Kim Currun, and Pelladoah who all had earlier defected from the Labour Party) were arrested at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam in the Netherlands after 20 kg of heroin were found in Pelladoah's suitcase.^[4] The MSM won the 1987 election with the same partners, and the 1991 election in a coalition with the MMM.

The coalition with the MMM turned out to be only a temporary rapprochement. In the leadup to the election expected to be held in 1996, the MMM left the government and formed an alliance with the Labour Party. Several MSM Members of Parliament also defected to the opposition, putting the Jugnauth administration under increasing strain. The elections ended up being brought forward to 1995. The opposition Labour-MMM coalition won all 60 seats, leaving the MSM without parliamentary representation. Navin Ramgoolam of the Labour Party became prime minister.

The Labour-MMM coalition subsequently broke up, and for the 2000 election, the MMM agreed to a pact with the MSM, providing that Jugnauth would serve as prime minister for three years. He would then resign and assume the presidency, handing the office of prime minister over to Paul Bérenger, the MMM leader. The MSM/MMM alliance won 54 of the 60 seats, and, as per the agreement, Jugnauth became prime minister and was succeeded by Bérenger in 2003. Bérenger led this coalition, which now included the PMSD, to defeat in the 2005 elections, however, and Ramgoolam became prime minister again. In 2010, the MSM joined the Labour-led Alliance de L'Avenir, which won the election, and Ramgoolam remained prime minister, with Pravind Jugnauth of the MSM as his Deputy. However, the party left the government in 2011 to join the opposition.

In 2014, The MSM opposed the Labor Party, which now aligned forces with the MMM instead. The MSM contested that year's election as part of the Alliance Lepep, which also included the PMSD and the Muvman Liberater; the alliance won 47 of the 60 directly elected mainland seats. Jugnauth, now 84, became prime minister again, even though his son Pravind Jugnauth was officially the party leader. In January 2017, Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth stepped down to hand power to his son, Pravind.^[5] In November 2019, Mauritius’ ruling Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won more than half of the seats in the 2019 elections, securing incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth a new five-year term.^[6]

Alliance LEPEP (2014–2016)

The MSM allied itself with two parties, the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) and the Muvman Liberater (ML) which won another 18 seats, giving the MSM-led Alliance Lepep a clear majority of 51 seats in the 70-member parliament . It also hold 17 of the 25 positions in the Cabinet. The alliance was broken when the PMSD left the government.

Alliance LEPEP (2024)

The MSM allied itself once again with the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) and the Muvman Liberater (ML) where it has lost the 2024 general election with a score of 60-0 in favour of its adversary Alliance du changement led by the Labour Party. It also hold 1 seat in the 2024 National Assembly with Joe Lesjongard as the leader of the opposition. The alliance was broken a few days after the elections.

Election results

National Assembly elections

The MSM has won, either alone or as part of a coalition, six of the twelve general elections in Mauritius since independence (in 1983, 1987, 1991, 2000, 2014 and 2019). It draws most of its support from the country's Hindu majority.

Election	Leader	Coalition			Seats	+/–	Position	Status
Election	Leader	Parties	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Status
1983	Sir Anerood Jugnauth	MSM–PTR	575,996	41.10	32 / 70	New	1st	Coalition
1987		MSM–PTR	675,757	40.50	31 / 70	1	1st	Coalition
1991		MSM–MMM–MTD	944,521	56.29	29 / 66	2	1st	Coalition
1995		MSM–MMR	330,219	19.85	0 / 66	29	6th	Extra-parliamentary
2000		MSM–MMM	951,643	51.34	28 / 70	28	1st	Coalition
2005	Pravind Jugnauth	MSM–MMM	831,738	42.41	14 / 70	14	2nd	Opposition
2010		MSM–PTR–PMSD	1,001,903	49.69	13 / 69	1	3rd	Coalition
2014		MSM–PMSD–ML	1,016,551	49.83	33 / 69	20	1st	Coalition
2019		MSM–ML–MAG–PM	805,036	37.68	36 / 70	4	1st	Coalition
2024		MSM–PMSD–MPM–ML–PM	639,372	27.29	1 / 66	36	7th	Opposition

Notes

Related Research Articles

The known and sometimes formally documented history of Mauritius begins with its possible discovery by Austronesians under the Austronesian expansion from pre-Han Taiwan, circa 1500 to 1000 BC, and then by Arabs,, followed by Portuguese and its appearance on European maps in the early 16th century. Mauritius was successively colonized by the Netherlands, France and Great Britain, and became independent on 12 March 1968.

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 Mauritian Militant Movement 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 13 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 and doctor serving as prime minister of Mauritius for the third time following the 2024 general election, after the landslide victory of his coalition Alliance du Changement. He is a prominent figure in the political history of Mauritius, having served multiple terms as the Prime Minister of the country. He is also the leader of the Labour Party.

The Mauritian Social Democratic Party, also known as the Mauritian Conservative Party, is a political party in Mauritius. Conservative and Francophilic, the PMSD is the fourth biggest political party in the National Assembly and currently forms part of the opposition.

Pravind Kumar Jugnauth is a Mauritian politician and former Prime Minister, succeeding, Aneerood Jugnauth, his father, who retired as leader of the majority in 2017. Following the victory of his, Alliance Morisien, coalition in 2019, he remained in office, eventually losing the 2024 Mauritian general election. Jugnauth is the leader of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) party. He has held a number of ministerial portfolios and also been Leader of the Opposition.

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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 Militant Socialist Movement/Mauritian Militant Movement (MSM/MMM) is coalition party that formed the government of the Republic of Mauritius from September 2000 to July 2005. The coalition has been reformed in April 2012 after an electoral agreement between the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) was made with Sir Anerood Jugnauth as leader. The agreements remain the same, 30 seats for the MMM and 30 seats for the MSM. It has also been conveyed that SAJ would be prime minister for 3 years and Paul Berenger would take over for the rest of the parliamentary term if the coalition wins the next general elections. It has also been agreed that Pravind Jugnauth who is leader of the MSM will not be in the Front Bench of the coalition in an eventual government of the MSM/MMM. This is because he has been provisionally charged with using office for gratification by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. He will therefore seat as a back-bencher until he is dismissed from all accusations.

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.

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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.

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.

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References

↑ Shillington, Kevin (1991). Jugnauth: Prime Minister of Mauritius. London: Macmillan. p. 135. ISBN 0-333-55224-5 . Retrieved 23 December 2023.
↑ "Profile of Mauritius". US Department of State. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
↑ Shillington, Kevin (1991). Jugnauth: Prime Minister of Mauritius. London: Macmillan. p. 135. ISBN 0-333-55224-5 . Retrieved 23 December 2023.
↑ Lablanche, John (15 February 1987). "Mauritius: Drug scandal clouds blue skies". United Press International . Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
↑ "Mauritius: PM Anerood Jugnauth to hand over to son". BBC . 22 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
↑ Arouff, Jean Paul (8 November 2019). "Mauritius elects incumbent PM for five-year term". Reuters . Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

External links

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[1] Shillington, Kevin (1991). Jugnauth: Prime Minister of Mauritius. London: Macmillan. p. 135. ISBN 0-333-55224-5 . Retrieved 23 December 2023.

[2] "Profile of Mauritius". US Department of State. Retrieved 31 December 2023.

[3] Shillington, Kevin (1991). Jugnauth: Prime Minister of Mauritius. London: Macmillan. p. 135. ISBN 0-333-55224-5 . Retrieved 23 December 2023.

[4] Lablanche, John (15 February 1987). "Mauritius: Drug scandal clouds blue skies". United Press International . Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

[5] "Mauritius: PM Anerood Jugnauth to hand over to son". BBC . 22 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

[6] Arouff, Jean Paul (8 November 2019). "Mauritius elects incumbent PM for five-year term". Reuters . Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

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