Muhammad Reza Cassam Uteem (born 1 December 1971) is a Mauritian politician who is commonly known as Reza Uteem.
Reza Uteem is the son of past President of Mauritius Cassam Uteem. [1] He was educated at the University of Buckingham (LLB) and King's College London where he graduated with an LLM in International Business Law and was a Chevening Scholar. He was called to the Bar in England and in Mauritius and is the founder and head of Uteem Chambers. [2]
Reza Uteem started playing an active role in politics after the death of his 38-year-old brother Oomar in 2007. [3] He served as Second Member for Constituency No.2 Port Louis South & Port Louis Central in the National Assembly since 6 May 2010. He was returned as First Member for the same constituency on 11 December 2014. He is the President of Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM). [4]
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.
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.
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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.
Karl Auguste Offmann, GCSK was a Mauritian politician who briefly served as the president of Mauritius from 2002 to 2003.
Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo, GCMG, GCSK, QC, was a Mauritian politician, minister, the sixth and last governor-general of Mauritius from 1986 to 1992, and then the first president of Mauritius from March to June 1992.
Cassam Uteem, GCSK is a Mauritian political figure who served as the second president of Mauritius from 30 June 1992 to 15 February 2002. He is the longest serving president of Mauritius.
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.
The Global Leadership Foundation (GLF) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization consisting of a network of former heads of state/government and other distinguished leaders, who seek to assist developing countries in improving governance, bolstering democratic institutions, and resolving conflicts. The organization does so by arranging for GLF Members to provide confidential peer-to-peer advice to current heads of government, who are committed to peace, democracy, and development. The Global Leadership Foundation is active across the world, works via invitation from a head of government, and its work is confidential.
The Royal College Port Louis (RCPL) is an academy in Cassis, Mauritius. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Mauritius. Originally founded in 1799 during the French colonial period, the first stone of the school's current building at Cassis was laid by Princess Margaret during her first visit to Mauritius in 1956.
Angidi Verriah Chettiar CBE was a Mauritian politician who served twice as the second vice president of Mauritius until his death in September 2010.
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.
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.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius is a senior member of the Cabinet of Mauritius. The incumbent Deputy Prime Minister Louis Steven Obeegadoo was appointed by the President on 25th of June 2020 after the resignation of Ivan Collendavelloo. The Deputy Prime Minister is the first in line to succeed the Prime Minister on a temporary basis in case the latter is out of the country, sick, resigns or dies suddenly.
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.
Aurélie Marie-Lisette Talate, also known as Lisette Talate or Aurelie Talate in her community was a Chagossian activist and emblematic figure of the Chagossian struggle to regain their islands; which they were forcibly exiled from by the occupying US military with permission from the UK in order to establish the Diego Garcia military base. Despite strong desire from the community to return to their land, the US and UK governments have patently refused to allow right of return.
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