Politics of Mauritius

Politics of Mauritius
Mauritius

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Mauritius



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Politics of Mauritius takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, in which the President is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government who is assisted by a council of Ministers . Mauritius has a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The absolute power is split between two positions, the President and the Prime Minister.

Contents

Overview

Mauritian politics is vibrant and characterised by coalition and alliance building. All parties are centrist and reflect a national consensus that supports democratic politics and a relatively open economy with a strong private sector.

Alone or in coalition, the Mauritian Labor Party (MLP) ruled from 1947 through 1982. The Mauritian Militant Movement/ Mauritian Socialist Party (MMM/PSM) alliance won the 1982 election, taking all 60 seats in Mauritius. In 1983, defectors from the MMM joined with the PSM to form the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and formed a majority in coalition with the MLP.

In July 1990, the MSM realigned with the MMM and in September 1991 national elections won 57 of the 62 directly elected seats in parliament. In December 1995, the MLP returned to power, this time in coalition with the MMM. The MLP's Navinchandra Ramgoolam, son of the country's first prime minister, became prime minister himself. Ramgoolam dismissed his MMM coalition partners in mid-1997, leaving Labour in power only with several small parties allied with it.

The MMM and MSM rejoined in a coalition that won the 2000 elections and, although a handful of MPs defected from the MSM in early 2005, both parties went together to the next election in July 2005, competing against the Alliance Sociale, a MLP-led coalition. The Alliance Sociale won the elections with an overwhelming majority.

In 2010, the MLP made a controversial alliance with the MSM, which is reported to have been decided since MSM's leader Pravind Jugnauth won the partial elections in constituency No. 8 owing to MLP's leader's silent orders. The alliance again won the majority with a comfortable number of seats defeating the MMM's alliance with two other parties.

Until 1992, Mauritius was a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, but on March 12 of that year, the country became a republic within the Commonwealth. The last Governor-General, Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo, became President under a transitional arrangement, before stepping down three months later in favour of Cassam Uteem, a former government minister. Under the amended constitution, the country's unicameral parliament, the Legislative Assembly, was renamed the National Assembly.

Communal voting

Communal voting is very often the sole way of voting. Since independence, almost all the prime ministers elected by the population have been Hindus. The only non-Hindu PM was Paul Raymond Bérenger who spent 22 months in office from 2003 to 2005 thanks to an understanding between his party, the MMM, and Sir Aneerood Jugnauth's party, the MSM, prior to the 2000 elections. Sir Aneerood Jugnauth thus assumed the office of PM for the first 3 years and, in 2003, Bérenger became PM while Jugnauth became President.[1] Currently, President Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam are the highest ranked persons in the government, and both are Hindus.

More than 45 out of 70 members of Parliament are Hindus.[2] The Ministries are also allocated on a communal basis. Hindus hold 16 ministries out of 22;[3] 3 ministries are allocated to Muslims and 3 ministries are allocated to Christians. It is to be noted that that the current electoral system under what is commonly known as "Best losers", allows for ethnic representation of MPs in the legislative assembley.

Legislative Branch

The president and vice president are elected by the National Assembly for five-year terms. They form part along with the Speaker of the National Assembly ,the legislative offices which under the constitution have the last decision and word to themselves.Most of the work are already done by the Executive Branch which consists of the Cabinet of Ministers, Leader of the Opposition and also other members of the parliament.

Office Name Incumbent Since
President Anerood Jugnauth 7 October 2003
Vice President Monique Ohsan Bellepeau 13 November 2010

Executive Branch

Another important structure of the government of Mauritius is the executive branch .The prime minister is appointed by the president and is responsible to the National Assembly. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister. The Council of Ministers (cabinet), responsible for the direction and control of the government, consists of the prime minister (head of government), the leader of the majority party in the legislature, and about 24 ministries.

Main office holders
Office Name Party Since
Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam MLP 5 July 2005
Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Beebeejaun MLP 5 July 2005
Vice Prime Minister Xavier Luc Duval PMSD 5 July 2005
Vice Prime Minister Anil Bachoo MLP 7 August 2011

The Executive branch being with the Cabinet have 4 most powerful offices, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and 2 offices of Vice Prime Minister. They have the absolute power and authority over the cabiner and also help the Prime Minister in his tasks and responsibilities.

Power share

In Mauritius, both the President and the Prime Minister enjoy power. The President earns higher and has more benefits and perks such as more bodyguards and police escorts and reside in a Chateau laid on 220 hectares of land. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister is the executive. He is responsible for any bill sent to the President from the assembly. He preside over all cabinet ministers and is the first adviser of the President. He is the head of government and it is on his advice that the President shall appoint any person in the government.

This is a list of precedence from the most to least powerful offices in the government:

  1. The President
  2. The Prime Minister
  3. The Vice President
  4. The Deputy Prime Minister
  5. The Chief Justice
  6. The Speaker of the National Assembly
  7. The Former Presidents
  8. The Former Prime Minister
  9. The Vice Prime Ministers
  10. The Leader of the Opposition
  11. The Ministers
  12. The Former Vice President
  13. The Government Chief Whip
  14. The Chief Commissioner of Rodrigues
  15. The Parliamentary Private Secretaries
  16. The Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service
  17. Financial Secretary/Secretary for Home Affairs/Secretary for Foreign Affairs
  18. Dean of the Diplomatic Corps/Heads and Acting Heads of Diplomatic
  19. Missions/Representatives of International and Regional Organisations
  20. The Senior Puisne Judge
  21. The Solicitor General/Puisne Judges/Senior Chief Executives
  22. The Chief of Protocol
  23. The Commissioner of Police
  24. The Permanent Secretaries/Ambassadors/Secretary to President
  25. The Deputy Speaker/Members of the National Assembly
  26. The Heads of Religious Bodies
  27. Holders of G.O.S.K. and/or persons knighted by the Queen
  28. Lord Mayor of Port-Louis/Mayors/Chairpersons of District Councils
  29. Consul General/Consuls/Honorary Consuls General/Honorary Consuls

Political Parties

The Republic has had many political parties since its independence .The oldest remains the Labour Party created in 1936 and the newest most powerful remains the Militant Socialist Movement created in 1983 nearly 50 years after the Labours.

The elections are most of the time fought between the three following parties, Militant Socialist Movement (known as MSM), Mauritian Labour Party (Known as Parti Travaiste) and the Mauritian Militant Movement (known as the MMM). Some others less powerful help to make alliance and have a majority in a hung parliament situation .One party is Mauritian Social Democrat Party (Known as the PMSD) .

Being the oldest party ,the Labour has won in all 5 general elections alone or in alliance starting in 1967 followed in 1976 and its comeback from the political cemetery in 1995 being the firs time alone in 2005 and lastly in alliance winning the 2010 elections.

In second position comes the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) which has won 4 general elections ,those of 1983 ,1987 ,1991 and 2000 but is also in alliance with the Labour Party in 2010 victory .

In last position comes the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) which has won the elections only 2 times ,the major one in 1982 and lastly in 2000 forming an alliance with the MSM.

The MSM is known to be the financially most powerful of the three and the MMM is known to be most stagnate party as it has on many occasions fought elections alone and has received much percentage of votes.The Labour party plays also a lot when talking about the ones who fought for independence and also brought freedom to the country during electoral campaigns in order to obtain votes.

The following table shows the different elections and the party which won the elections .

Election Year Majority Party Alliance Parties Opposition Parties
1967 Mauritian Labour Party Independent Forward Block
All Hindu Congress
Muslim Action Committee
Mauritian Social Democrat Party
1976 Mauritian Labour Party Muslim Action Committee
Mauritian Social Democrat Party
Mauritian Militant Movement
1982 Mauritian Militant Movement Mauritian Socialist Party Mauritian Social Democrat Party
1983 Militant Socialist Movement Mauritian Labour Party
Mauritian Social Democrat Party
Mauritian Militant Movement
1987 Militant Socialist Movement Mauritian Labour Party
Mauritian Social Democrat Party
Mauritian Militant Movement
1991 Militant Socialist Movement Mauritian Militant Movement Mauritian Labour Party
1995 Mauritian Labour Party Mauritian Militant Movement Rodrigues Movement
2000 Militant Socialist Movement Mauritian Militant Movement Mauritian Labour Party
2005 Mauritian Labour Party Mauritian Party of Xavier Duval Militant Socialist Movement
Mauritian Militant Movement
Mauritian Social Democrat Party
2010 Mauritian Labour Party Militant Socialist Movement
Mauritian Social Democrat Party
Mauritian Militant Movement

The Mauritian Labour Party was created in 1936 by late Dr Maurice Cure and other prominent figures such as Renganaden Seeneevasen and Emmanuel Anquetil. It was the party which fought against the authoritarian governance of the British. They altogether attended the conference in United Kingdom and resisted to the British demands and were still fighting for the independence of the country.

It is said to be the historical political party as most of the other party members emerged from the Labours .In 1957, a young physician known as Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was offered to be member of the party along with some friends. He later became the leader of the party and was the main negotiator for the independence without the spreading of blood and war. His mission became successful in 1967 when the Queen and British Government accepted their demand to free the island known as the Star of the Indian Ocean .Following the agreement ,general elections were held in 1967 and the Labour Party was victorious against the Social Democrat which formed the official opposition .

Ramgoolam ruled the country with its main resources, sugar cane. Mauritius began to emerge slowly with a very poor GDP and low average income in the country. Ramgoolam ,being the leader of the majority party became Prime Minister in 1968 just after Independence . He remained there until 1982 .

Paul Berenger, a French descendant born in Mauritius came back to Mauritius after his tertiary schooling in Europe .He began to calculate and study as well as analyze the government work and progress which he defined as very drastic and poor strategies .He therefore decided to create a political party which would have the main objective of taking away the country from poverty ,famine and illiteracy .

He formed the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) in 1970 and invited some of his friends to join in .With time ,the MMM became very powerful and most of alliances of the Labour Party joined together in the party .One famous figure was Sir Anerood Jugnauth who was a former minister in the cabinet of Ramgoolam .They joined hands and fought the general elections for the first time in 1976 .

The MMM was the majority party until Ramgoolam joined hands with the Social Democrates and formed a slighter majority of 2 seats higher. The MMM had 30 seats and the Labour Party 25 and Social Democrats obtained 7. They formed an alliance of 32 seats against 30. Berenger knew that Hindus being the majority would never want to have him as Prime Minister and therefore nominated Jugnauth to be elected as Prime Minister in case of victory.

He also did an alliance with then Hindu nationalist party ,the Mauritian Socialist Party. They went in alliance and won the 1982 general elections as a high power as they obtained all 62 seats in parliament .Berenger decided that it was time for some constitutional reforms.He proposed that the executive powers of the Prime Minister be spread out in the cabinet and that the cabinet will have the most executive power than the leader .

Anerood Jugnauth strongly disagreed with Berenger on this matter and resigned from his party and as Prime Minister just after dissolving the parliament .This was considered as a major turn and trick .Jugnauth was put under pressure to resign and before his term ended ,just few days before ,he dissolved the assembly and called for new elections .

He took the Mauritian Socialist Party members and merged with a new party and founded the Militant Socialist Movement ,(MSM) .His new created party went for the general elections in alliance with the labour and social democrats .They won a comfortable majority and the MSM stayed to power until 1995 .

This showed the way the MSM was created and how it did survived .Jugnauth being long time its leader was Prime Minister for 16 years and President since 2003 .

election result

e • d Summary of the 3 July 2005 National Assembly of Mauritius election results
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Additional seats total seats
Alliance Sociale: 948,766 48.8 38 4 42
Alliance MSM-MMM 829,460 42.6 22 2 24
Rodrigues People's Organisation (Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais) 10,184 0.8 2 2 4
All others 156,538 8.0
Total (Turnout 81.5 %) 1,944,948 100.0 62 8 70
Source: Adam Carr

Every voter has three votes. The total number of votes cast divided by three (648,316) is lower than the actual number people voting (666,178), because not all of them cast three votes. Constituencies 1 to 20 are physically in the island of Mauritius and each has three elected members. Constituency 21 is the island of Rodrigues which has two elected members. The voters based in the island of Agalega and other islets are registered in constituency 1.

e • d Summary of the 5 May 2010 National Assembly of Mauritius election results
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Additional seats Total seats
Alliance of the Future (Alliance de L'Avenir) 1,001,903 49.69 41 4 45
Alliance of the Heart (Alliance du Coeur)
  • Mauritian Militant Movement (Mouvement Militant Mauricien)
  • National Union (Union Nationale)
  • Mauritian Socialist Democrat Movement (Mouvement Mauricien Socialiste Démocrate)
847,095 42.01 18 2 20
Mauritian Solidarity Front (Front Solidarité Mauricienne) 51,161 2.54 1 1
Rodrigues Movement (Mouvement Rodriguais) 20,933 1.04 2 2
Rodrigues People's Organisation (Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais) 18,815 0.93 1 1
Total (Turnout ~78%) 2,016,427 100.00 62 7 69
Source: gov.mu, gov.mu

Judicial branch

Mauritian law is an amalgam of French and British legal traditions. The Supreme Court—a chief justice and five other judges—is the highest local judicial authority. There is an additional higher right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.[4] Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council have been located in Mauritius since the end of 2008, as part of a plan to lower the costs of appeal.

Administrative divisions

Local government has nine administrative divisions, with municipal and town councils in urban areas and district and village councils in rural areas. The island of Rodrigues forms the country's 10th administrative division. Other dependencies are Agalega Islands and Cargados Carajos Shoals. The divisions are Black River, Flacq, Grand Port, Moka, Pamplemousses, Plaines Wilhems, Port Louis, Riviere du Rempart, and Savanne.

International organization participation

ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AOSIS, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, InOC, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO

References

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3151696.stm
  2. ^ http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/AssemblySite/menuitem.3bef52ce598560451251701065c521ca/
  3. ^ http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/GovtHomePagesite/menuitem.c0a01177fcf48dfcf6be501054508a0c/?content_id=dc12d575d1a88010VgnVCM100000ca6a12acRCRD
  4. ^ Parvèz A. C. Dookhy, "Le Comité Judiciaire du Conseil Privé de la Reine Elisabeth II d'Angleterre et le Droit Mauricien", PhD dissertation, University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, 26 February 1997

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