Mauritius: Communal tensions and democracy

Updated 2002

Mauritius is one of the oldest and most stable democracies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and in Africa as a whole. Several elections have been successfully held since the pre-independence poll of 1967. The island's most enduring success lies in the entrenchment of a culture of peaceful democratic alternation in power.

The electoral system of Mauritius is constituency-based, modelled after the British system. The 70-member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies, and eight additional seats allocated to the "best losers" among the non-elected candidates, according to their ethno-religious affiliation - two each for Hindus, Muslims, Chinese, and the general population (Creole). Until 1992 the head of state was the governor general who represented the British crown; this position was abolished when Mauritius became a republic in 1992, though it continues to be a member of the Commonwealth.

From the first universal suffrage elections in 1958 two parties predominated until 1969, the Labour Party, largely supported by Hindus, and the mainly Creole supported Parti Maurinan. These factions formed a coalition for most of this period.

However, democracy in Mauritius has also had its periods of uncertainty. In 1965 and 1968 inter-communal unrest resulted in some loss of life and injury and necessitated the intervention of British troops to re-establish order and peace.

Apart from communalism, democracy was threatened during the first post-independence years when Prime Minister Seewoosagur Ramgoolam of the Parti Travailliste (Labour Party) imposed a state of emergency in reaction to what the government perceived as a Marxist threat to democracy posed by the then newly formed Mouvement Militant Mauritian (MMM).

The MMM, led by Paul Bérenger, mobilized the working class, the marginalized and unemployed across ethnic lines (Library of Congress 1994). According to Barbara Carroll and Terrance Carroll (1992, 185):

"Support for the MMM grew rapidly in 1969-70, fuelled by popular concerns about unemployment and the apparent lack of future prospects, especially among the young. In September 1970, the MMM won a by-election in a formerly Labour seat, taking 70 per cent of the votes. The government's response was immediate. It pushed through constitutional amendments to postpone the next national election from 1972 to 1976, and to abolish by-elections. When the MMM fought back by organising strikes by its supporters in many key sectors of the economy, four members of a junior party in the governing coalition attempted to assassinate the MMM's leaders. At the end of 1971, the government declared a state of emergency, arresting MMM leaders without charges, shutting the MMM's newspaper, and banning most union and party activity".

References

Extracted from KADIMA, D 2000, Parliamentary elections 2000 - a report, EISA.

CARROLL, B & CARROLL, T 1999 "The Consolidation of Democracy in Mauritius", IN Democratization, 6(1), Spring, 185.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1994 "Independent Mauritius", IN Library of Congress Country Studies, [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+mu0016) [opens new window] (accessed 24 Oct 2007).