Mauritius: From independence to the 1976 election

Extracted from: "Mauritius" IN Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa (2002), edited by Tom Lodge, Denis Kadima and David Pottie, EISA, 165-166.

On 12 March 1968 Mauritius became independent and [prime minister] Ramgoolam subsequently formed an alliance between his Labour Party and the equally Hindu-based Independent Forward Bloc, as well as the small Muslim party, the CAM [Comité d'Action Muselman]. The opposition was led by Duval's PMSD [Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate] which rallied the non-Hindu minorities - Creoles, Franco-Mauritians, Chinese, and many Muslims. From 1968 to 1982, the LP was dependent upon coalition partners to stay in power. For most of this period (1969-1973 and 1976-1982), its key ally was the PMSD, a partner more of necessity than of conviction.

From 1969 onward, the MLP faced a formidable opposition party, the Mouvement Mililitant Mauricien (MMM) led by Paul Bérenger. The MMM began as a radical movement of young educated Mauritians of different ethnic origins dedicated to ridding the island of communalism. It rapidly established a strong power base among workers, and in 1971 instigated highly disruptive strikes and violence. These led to a state of emergency being declared and political activity largely proscribed between 1973 and 1975. The elections due in 1972 were deferred until 1976. From 1974 on, the restrictions were gradually lifted.

The MLP-PMSD coalition collapsed at the end of 1973. The MMM realised that Mauritians were not interested in radicalism and that its road to power lay in electoral politics. The MLP was beset by a host of internal problems, but could not postpone elections indefinitely. Parliament was dissolved on 21 October 1976 and on 4 November an election date was set for 20 December 1976.

The voting age had been reduced from 21 to 18 years in December 1975, and this measure gave the vote to some 70 000 young people and increased the total number of voters under the age of 25 to about 60% of an electorate of some 500 000 people (the total population being approximately 900 000).