Mauritius: Electoral Commissioner

Updated May 2010

Electoral Commissioner's Office

The Electoral Commissioner's Office is established by the Constitution of Mauritius 1968, Article 40. The Electoral Commissioner is appointed by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission and must be a qualified barrister in Mauritius. The Electoral Commissioner is not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority except the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC; Mauritius 1968, Article 40, 41).

Term of Office

The term of office is 5 years.

Functions

The functions of the Electoral Commissioner, as laid out in the Constitution 1968, Section 41, are:

  • The registration of voters and conduct of elections as prescribed by the ESC
  • To keep the ESC fully informed concerning the exercise of the Commissioner's functions, but has the right to attend ESC meetings and to solicit its advice or decision on matters relating to the Commissioner's functions.
  • To comment on Bills, regulation or other legal instruments relating to the registration of voters or the election of members of the National Assembly or other elections that may be prescribed. All these instruments must be referred to the Commissioner for study before being enacted.

These functions are supervised by the Electoral Supervisory Commission. In terms of Section 41(5): "The question whether the Electoral Commissioner has acted in accordance with the advice of or a decision of the Electoral Supervisory Commission shall not be enquired into in any court of law".

The conduct of voter registration and the compilation of voters' rolls is exhaustively laid out in the Representation of the People Act (1968, 3-39), as is the regulation of candidate expenditures (sections 49-57; see Funding of political parties). A 2005 amendment to the Act empowered the Electoral Commissioner to invite and accredit foreign election observers with the approval of the ESC. Other duties of the Electoral Commissioner's Office in the preparation for and conduct of elections laid out in the National Assembly Elections Regulations 1968 include:

Electoral Commissioner

Mr MI Abdool Rahman (Electoral Commissioner's Office 2010).

Supporting Structure

The Electoral Commissioner is assisted by the Chief Electoral Officer, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, two Principal Electoral Officers and two Senior Electoral Officers (Electoral Commissioner's Office 2010). In addition there are ten Electoral Officers who are "responsible for the 21 Constituencies of Mauritius for which they act as Registration Officers" supported by junior staff members (Electoral Commissioner's Office 2010).

Funding and expenditure

The offices of the Electoral Commissioner receives an annual allocation from the government earmarked and voted for in the budget. See Cost of elections for a discussion of expenditures.

References

CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS 1968, [www] http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/AssemblySite/menuitem.ee3d58b2c32c60451251701065c521ca/ [opens new window] (accessed 22 Feb 2010).

ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE 2010 "The Office", 6 May, [www] http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/eco/menuitem.da9121d6a1b35f3a9459d9a365d521ca/ [opens new window] (accessed 22 Feb 2010).

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS REGULATIONS (ACT 12/68) OF 1968, [www] http://www.gov.mu/portal/goc/eco/file/naereg68.rtf [MS Word document] (accessed 24 Oct 2007).

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT 1968.

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (AMENDMENT) ACT 2005, [www] http://aceproject.org/regions-en/eisa/MU/Representation%20of%20People%20%20Amendment%20Act%202005.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 8 Mar 2010).

Official web site

Electoral Commissioner's Office: http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/eco/menuitem.9f73b64c918f0cb5d61f2e9848a521ca/ [opens new window].