Showkutally Soodhun (born 1951 [1] ) is a politician from Mauritius who served as Vice Prime Minister of Mauritius [2] from 17 December 2014 to 16 November 2017 and Minister of Housing and Lands [3] . [4] [5] He was elected as a member of the National Assembly in 2005. [1]
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country 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.
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 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 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 prime minister of Mauritius is the head of government of Mauritius. He presides over the Cabinet of Ministers, which advises the president of the country and is collectively responsible to the National Assembly for any advice given and for all action done by or under the authority of any minister in the execution of his office.
Dev Virahsawmy was a Mauritian politician, playwright, poet and advocate of the Mauritian Creole language. Though he wrote easily in both French and English, Virahsawmy was most renowned for his efforts to popularise the use of Creole.
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.
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.
Arvin Boolell is a Mauritian politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition from 2019 to 2021, when he resigned. Now in 2024, he serves as the Leader of the Opposition after the resignation of Shakeel Mohamed.
The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Mauritius is the official council which advises the President of the Republic in the making of major decisions. It is led by the Prime Minister and a total of 23 ministers and the Attorney General, who is considered to be a cabinet member. The constitution of the Republic provides a cabinet under the leadership of the Prime Minister that must be appointed by the President after each general elections.
Leela Devi Dookun Luchoomun MP GCSK is the former Minister of Social Security of Mauritius serving in the cabinet of Navin Ramgoolam having been appointed on 11 May 2010 by President Anerood Jugnauth. She is Member of Parliament representing Constituency No 8, Moka & Quartier Militaire. She is a former Minister of Arts & Culture serving in the cabinet of Paul Berenger for a short period of 6 months.
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 Leader of the Opposition of the Republic of Mauritius is the Member of Parliament who leads the Official Opposition in Mauritius. The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the National Assembly that is not in government.
Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo is a Mauritian politician who has served in various ministerial positions as a member of the Militant Socialist Movement. She represents Constituency No. 19 in the National Assembly. She is the first woman to hold the position of Vice Prime Minister.
The Best Loser System refers to the method used in Mauritius since the 1950s to guarantee ethnic representation across the entire electorate in the National Assembly (Mauritius) without organising the representation wholly by ethnicity.
Mohammad Anwar Husnoo is a politician from Mauritius who is serving as Vice Prime Minister of Mauritius. He also served as Minister of Local Government and Disaster Risk Management.