Mauritius: 2001 Municipal elections report

Updated October 2001

Municipal elections are held every five years in each of the five Municipal Council areas (towns) that are subdivided into 20 wards. As stipulated in the Local Government Act of 1989, each Town returns 24 councillors except for Port Louis, which returns 30 councillors, making a total of 126. The number of electors concerned this year is 346 790.

Section 8 of the abovementioned Act empowers the President to fix the date of Municipal Council Elections in the month of October every five years as from 1991. The previous Municipal Council Elections were held in 1996.

Nomination and Poll Days

On 4 July 2001, the President appointed Sunday 7 October as the date for the Municipal Council Elections - Nomination Day being 11 September 2001.

20 Returning Officers were appointed (along with their Deputies) each in charge of one ward of a town.

413 candidates filed their nomination papers on Nomination Day. However, 15 of them withdrew their candidature within the prescribed time limit, leaving 398 candidates to contest the councillors' 126 seats. The two main party alliances, viz. MSM-MMM-PMSD (the ruling party) and the PTr-PMXD-MR (the opposition party), fielded 126 candidates each. Other parties or groups of candidates had 107 candidates and the remaining 39 were independents.

Security Measures

The Police were responsible for the maintenance of law and order during the elections and they worked in close collaboration with the Electoral Commissioner's Office and the Electoral Supervisory Commission.

Preparations for the Poll

Some 6 000 civil servants (out of whom about 55% were women) were selected and appointed as election officers in the 99 polling stations. The Returning Officers and their Deputies were briefed at the Electoral Commissioner's Office regarding election procedures and they, in turn, trained their election staff to enable them to carry out their duties efficiently.

Ballot papers were provided by the Government Printing Office and checked by each Returning Officer. The Ministry of Public Infrastructure installed voting booths in all polling stations. All stations were provided with electricity.

Poll

The poll was scheduled for Sunday 7 October from 6am to 6pm with an hour lunch break from noon to 1pm. As usual, transparent ballot boxes were used. Our election staff assisted blind and incapacitated electors to vote.

After the close of the poll, all the sealed ballot boxes containing ballot papers of outlying polling stations were transported under police escort and in presence of candidates/agents to a counting centre already designated for that purpose in each ward. Here they were kept under police custody and under the watch of party agents overnight.

Counting

The counting process started at 8am on Monday 8 October. As provided for in the regulations the count took place in the presence of candidates and their agents in all the 20 wards of the five towns. After compilation of the final figures, the returning officers publicly proclaimed the results on the same day.

The Alliance MSM-MMM-PMSD won 115 seats and a majority in all five towns. The Alliance PTR-PMXD-MR obtained ten seats and the Hizbullah Party, one seat.

Foreign Delegates

Three delegates from Namibia arrived in Mauritius on Friday 5 October to be apprised of our election process. These delegates had the opportunity to observe the preparation of a polling station on the eve of the poll. They were briefed on the election process and also visited our offices.

General Remarks

The electoral campaign was a fairly short one and no major incident was reported on either poll or counting days.

No election petitions have been lodged as yet. By law, such petitions should be relayed within 21 days of the proclamation of the results for one or more of the candidates.