Mauritius: Women's representation in the 2005 National Assembly

Updated May 2010

The elections took place on July 3, 2005 and the voter turnout was 81.5% (Kasenally 2009, 288).

Up to eight seats can be allocated to "best losers" by the Electoral Supervisory Commission "[i]n order to ensure a fair and adequate representation of each community", in terms of Section 38 of the Constitution of 1968 (see Elklit, J 2005 Electoral system for Parliament in Mauritius for details). In 2010 seven best loser seats were allocated.

Coalitions

Alliance Sociale, led by Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, was a coalition of the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP/PTr), Mouvement Militant Socialiste Mauricienne (MMSM), Mouvement Socialiste Démocrate (MSD and Parti Mauricien Xavier Duval (PMXD).
Alliance MSM/MMM, led by the Leader of the Opposition Paul Bérenger was a coalition of the Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM), Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien (MSM) and Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD).

Women's representation

Key
A - All seats
W - Women's seats
%W - Precentage women

Coalition/Party	Candidates			Elected seats			Best loser seats			Total seats
Coalition/Party	A	W	%W	A	W	%W	A	W	%W	A	W	%W
Alliance Sociale	60	6	10.0	38	4	10.5	4	0	0	42	4	9.5
Alliance MSM/MMM	60	10	16.7	22	7	31.8	2	1	50	24	8	33.3
Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais (OPR)	2	0	0.0	2	0	0.0	0	0	-	2	0	0
Mouvement Rodriguais (MR)	2	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	2	0	0	2	0	0
Total	124	16	12.9	62	11	17.7	8	1	12.5	70	12	17.1

Table sources

Chiror 2005, 11, 13.

References

CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS 1968, [www] http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/AssemblySite/menuitem.ee3d58b2c32c60451251701065c521ca/ [opens new window] (accessed 7 May 2010).

CHIRORO, B 2005, Engendering Democracy Through the Ballot Box in the Mauritius 2005 Elections [PDF], EISA Occasional Paper 37.