Mauritius: 2005 Election candidates by gender
Bertha Chiroro, June 2005
Extracted from CHIRORO, B 2005 "Registration of political parties in the Mauritius 2005 election", Election Talk: Mauritius [PDF], 23.
What is new in these [2005 National Assembly] elections is an effort deployed by registered political parties to mobilise more women candidates. However, the number of women candidates fielded by the parties is less impressive. Out of a total number of 664 candidates, only 63 are women (9,5%).
The strongest contender for the election, the Social Alliance, has fielded only 6 women candidates out of the total of 60. The ruling MMM-MSM-PMSD alliance fielded 10 out of their 60 candidates. In contrast a small party, Lalit, that has only 32 candidates, has fielded 14 women candidates. Nine of the women candidates are independents and the remaining 13 are split amongst the remaining smaller parties.
With this small number of women candidates Mauritius will still not be able to achieve the SADC 30% gender representation as required by the 1997 SADC Declaration on Gender and Development.
| Party/Alliance | Candidates | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Men | ||
| Alliance MSM/MMM | 10 | 50 | 60 |
| Alliance Sociale | 6 | 54 | 60 |
| Comite D'Action Musulman Mauricien (CAMM) | 3 | 3 | |
| Conservative Party | 3 | 3 | |
| Democratie Mauricienne | 1 | 1 | |
| Democratie Union Socialist Mauricien (DUSM) | 3 | 3 | |
| Ekta Party | 3 | 3 | |
| Front Progressiste du Peuple Rodriguaais (FPPR) | 1 | 1 | |
| Front Solidarite Mauricienne (FSM) | 1 | 54 | 55 |
| Front Populaire Musulman (FPM) | 28 | 28 | |
| Group de Cinq | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Independent Forward Block (IFB) | 1 | 1 | |
| L'Alliance Pour La Justice | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| Lalit | 14 | 18 | 32 |
| Majority Party/Party de la majorite | 4 | 4 | |
| Mauritius Party Rights | 1 | 1 | |
| MDN Raj Dayal Movement | 4 | 22 | 26 |
| Movement Democratic Mauriciene (MDM) | 5 | 5 | |
| Movement National Mauricien | 3 | 3 | |
| Mouvement Rodriguais | 2 | 2 | |
| Mouvement Socialiste Independent | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| MSTMRA | 1 | 1 | |
| Mouvement Travailleurs Mauriciens | 4 | 4 | |
| MTS | 1 | 1 | |
| Movement Popular Lendroit | 3 | 3 | |
| Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais | 2 | 2 | |
| Parti Du Peuple Mauricien (PPM) | 5 | 46 | 51 |
| Party Malin | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| PRO | 1 | 1 | |
| RRR | 1 | 1 | |
| Rassemblement des Travailleurs Sociaux | 1 | 1 | |
| RSM | 2 | 2 | |
| Rezistans ek Alternativ | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| Tamil Council | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Top Dhamaka Vrai Rouge | 1 | 1 | |
| Union Mauricien | 3 | 3 | |
| Union Patriots llois Mauricien | 1 | 1 | |
| Independents | 9 | 239 | 248 |
| Total | 63 | 601 | 664 |