by Bayano Valy – SANF 05 no 58
Mauritius’ main opposition alliance, the Social Alliance, has won the island’s 2005 legislative election held on 3 July.
The Social Alliance, comprising Mauritius Labour Party and the Mauritian Social Democratic Party, won the race with 38 seats (more than 60 percent), against 22 for the outgoing government alliance.
The remaining two seats went to the Organisation of the Rodrigues People (OPR).
Turn out has been put at 82 percent. There were more than 817,000 eligible voters and a total of 676 candidates representing over 70 alliances and smaller parties, as well as independents.
The Social Alliance is led by veteran politician Navichandra Ramgoolam who is expected to become the country’s next Prime Minister, with his running mate Ahmed Rashid Beebeejaun set to become Deputy Prime Minister.
Ramgoolam is the son of the late Seewoosagur Ramgoolam who was the first leader of independent Mauritius. The island gained independence from Britain in 1968.
The outgoing Prime Minister Paul Bérenger has already accepted defeat and he appeared on national television thanking his supporters for their vote, and urged the islanders to accept “the ballot’s verdict.”
“We must respect democracy,” he said, adding that “the elections took place in a calmly and orderly fashion. They were an example for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and the world.”
Mauritius currently holds the rotating SADC chair until the next summit scheduled for 17-18 August in Botswana where the host will take over for another year.
Bérenger graciously accepted defeat and said he would immediately resign his post which he was supposed to hold until the next government is formed.
Bérenger is the current leader of the alliance, the Mauritian Militant Movement/Militant Socialist Movement (MMM/MSM).
The current president of the republic, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, was elected by the National Assembly in 2003 for a five-year term.
Mauritius has a 70-seat unicameral parliament where 62 candidates are elected by direct popular vote in a block system where each voter gets to cast three ballots for three candidates from each of the 21 constituencies, including the offshore island of Rodrigues, which elects two parliamentarians.
The remaining eight candidates are drawn from a list of “best losers”.
So far there has been no official statement from the various regional observer missions, which are scheduled to release their findings on 5 July.
There were more than 80 election observers representing the SADC Electoral Observer Mission (SEOM) — the main regional observer team — the SADC Parliamentary Forum, the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries, and the African Union. (SARDC)
