Constituencies of Mauritius

Mauritius
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Mauritius
Constitution
Presidency Acting President Barlen Vyapoory Vice-President Barlen Vyapoory
Government Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Collendavelloo Cabinet
Legislature National Assembly Speaker: Maya Hanoomanjee Leader of the Opposition Xavier Luc Duval
Judiciary Supreme Court
Elections Political parties Constituencies Recent elections Presidential: 2008 General: 2005 2010 2014
Administrative divisions Districts Outer islands
Foreign relations Minister of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic missions of Mauritius to Mauritius Passport Visa requirements
Other countries Atlas

Constituencies of Mauritius are the electoral boundaries within the Republic of Mauritius. The country follows the Westminster system and elects sixty members of parliament for a term of five years. There are in all twenty-one constituencies^[1] in the republic, each of them returning three members with the exception of Constituency No 21, which returns only two members. The constitution stipulates in there shall be twenty constituencies and one created specially for the Rodrigues island.

Those electoral boundaries are considered to be the main pillars for elections as they allow members of parliament to be elected and thus to form the government. As mentioned in the constitution, the Electoral Boundaries Commission shall review the boundaries of the constituencies at such times as will enable them to present a report to the Assembly 10 years, as near as may be, after 12 August 1966 and, thereafter, 10 years after presentation of their last report.

The report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission shall make recommendations for any alterations to the boundaries of the constituencies as appear to the Commission to be required so that the number of inhabitants of each constituency is as nearly equal as is reasonably practicable to the population quota that is the number of inhabitants of a constituency may be greater or less than the population quota in order to take account of means of communication, geographical features, density of population and the boundaries of administrative areas.

History of Constituencies

Before 1967, according to the previous (pre-independence) Constitution, Mauritius was divided into 40 constituencies from which a Member of Parliament (MP) was elected. Elected MPs would then elect a Chief Minister as well as Council Members.

Today, the constituencies still remain more or less the same but, ever since the new Constitution provided in 1992, many of the previously smaller 40 constituencies have been reorganised so as to now form a total of 21 constituencies.

The results showed a directly members would be including 24 MPs of Hindu^[2] community, 3 MPs elected from the Muslims, 1 MP elected from the sino-Mauritians and the 12 resting MPs were of Christian group. This affected the equality of representation thought ethnic groups which are considered as very sensitive subject and then government decided to amend the law and move it to a system of Best Loser.

The Best Loser System

The Best Loser System is a method used in Mauritius to make sure that the minorities ethnic groups are well and equitably represented in the parliament. Apart from 62 directly elected members, the constitution provides 8 additional seats which are allocated to the best losers who were candidates from the appropriate ethnic groups, namely the minorities. Minorities are mainly build of Christians and Muslims with a small percentage of Sino-Mauritian.

In order to ensure a fair and adequate representation of each community, there shall be 8 seats in the Assembly, additional to the 62 seats for members representing constituencies, which shall so far as is possible be allocated to persons belonging to parties who have stood as candidates for election as members at the general election but have not been returned as members to represent constituencies. As soon as is practicable after all the returns have been made of persons elected at any general election as members to represent constituencies, the 8 additional seats shall be allocated in accordance with the following provisions of this paragraph by the Electoral Supervisory Commission which shall so far as is possible make a separate determination in respect of each seat to ascertain the appropriate unreturned candidate (if any) to fill that seat.

The first 4 of the 8 seats shall so far as is possible each be allocated to the most successful unreturned candidate, if any, who is a member of a party and who belongs to the appropriate community, regardless of which party he belongs to.

When the first 4 seats (or as many as possible of those seats) have been allocated, the number of such seats that have been allocated to persons who belong to parties, other than the most successful party, shall be ascertained and so far as is possible that number of seats out of the second 4 seats shall one by one be allocated to the most successful unreturned candidates (if any) belonging both to the most successful party and to the appropriate community or where there is no unreturned candidate of the appropriate community, to the most successful unreturned candidates belonging to the most successful party, irrespective of community.

Where at any time before the next dissolution of Parliament one of the 8 seats falls vacant, the seat shall as soon as is reasonably practicable after the occurrence of the vacancy be allocated by the Electoral Supervisory Commission to the most successful unreturned candidate (if any) available who belongs to the appropriate community and to the party to whom the person to whom the seat was allocated at the last general election belonged:

Provided that, where no candidate of the appropriate community who belongs to that party is available, the seat shall be allocated to the most successful unreturned candidate available who belongs to the appropriate community and who belongs to such other party as is designated by the leader of the party with no available candidate.The appropriate community means, in relation to the allocation of any of the 8 seats, the community that has an unreturned candidate available (being a person of the appropriate party, where the seat is one of the second 4 seats) and that would have the highest number of persons (as determined by reference to the results of the published 1972 official census of the whole population of Mauritius) in relation to the number of seats in the Assembly held immediately before the allocation of the seat by persons belonging to that community (whether as members elected to represent constituencies or otherwise), where the seat was also held by a person belonging to that community:

Provided that, if, in relation to the allocation of any seat, 2 or more communities have the same number of persons as aforesaid preference shall be given to the community with an unreturned candidate who was more successful than the unreturned candidates of the other community or communities (that candidate and those other candidates being persons of the appropriate party, where the seat is one of the second 4 seats).The degree of success of a party shall, for the purposes of allocating any of the 8 seats at any general election of members of the Assembly, be assessed by reference to the number of candidates belonging to that party returned as members to represent constituencies at that election as compared with the respective numbers of candidates of other parties so returned, no account being taken of a party that had no candidates so returned or of any change in the membership of the Assembly occurring because the seat of a member so returned becomes vacant for any cause, and the degree of success of an unreturned candidate of a particular community (or of a particular party and community) at any general election shall be assessed by comparing the percentage of all the valid votes cast in the constituency in which he stood for election secured by him at that election with the percentages of all the valid votes cast in the respective constituencies in which they stood for election so secured by other unreturned candidates of that particular community (or as the case may be, of that particular party and that particular community), no account being taken of the percentage of votes secured by any unreturned candidate who has already been allocated one of the 8 seats at that election or by any unreturned candidate who is not a member of a party:

Provided that if, in relation to the allocation of any seat, any 2 or more parties have the same number of candidates returned as members elected to represent constituencies, preference shall be given to the party with an appropriate unreturned candidate who was more successful than the appropriate unreturned candidate or candidates of the other party or parties.

Therefore, according to the system, no Hindus have the right to be elected because they already form a rather big majority of those ethnic groups .However taking on ethnic groups, some Hindus who are Tamil speakers, Telugu speakers and Marathi speakers have been elected through the system and it was done lastly in 2000.

The Best Loser System was set up long ago to prevent political and social tension in the country however as at January 2012, and after the Carcassonne Report, the need of electoral reform in Mauritius made headlines^[3] and the probability of abolishing the Best Loser System has surfaced.

The Constituencies as from 1967

Constituency 4

Port Louis North and Montagne Longue^[4] constituency is the 4th and last electoral boundary of Port Louis City .The areas are among the most impoverished places in the country .It includes St Croix, Kailason, Creve Coeur ending in Montagne Longue .The constituency was among the constituencies left behind by the Jugnauth's government in the 80's as he had no Mps elected from there .It is a disputed constituency between the majority of Mauritian.

This constituency has always been a MMM bastion since 1976 but is now disputed between the three main political parties, the MSM, MMM and the Mauritian Labour Party .It has recorded a total number of 46,179 voters in the 2010 elections .

Constituency 5

Pamplemousses and Triolet is the fifth constituency and one of the three main Hindu constituencies in the Northern part of the Country .It is known to be a bastion of the Mauritian Labour Party since independence .It starts with the areas covering Pamplemousses, Triolet, Trou aux Biches ending near Mon Choisy .It is the 2nd most populous constituency with 56,620 voters registered after Constituency No 14 .It is a constituency which has an overall majority of Hindus reaching nearly 80% of the voters .

It has been the constituency of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam the father of the nation of the country. It is the only electorate to have return two Prime Ministers, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Navin Ramgoolam, the incumbent office holder .It is a decisive boundary as most labour Mps are elected from there .

From 1968 to 1982, Sir Ramgoolam was MP and from 1991, Navin Ramgoolam has been returned every time as 1st Member elected . The Prime Minister being always a Hindu is a very important factor to win over the elections. This constituency has been bastions of two prime minister of the country.

The general elections held on December 11, 2014 elected all the candidates for L'alliance LEPEP, ending Labour Party dominance in this Constituency.^[5][6]

Constituency No 6

Grand Baie and Poudre d'Or is one of the three main Hindu constituency of Mauritius. The others being No 5 and No 7. Known to be a disputed electoral territory of the MSM and the Mauritius Labour Party, this constituency has a total of 48,379 registered electors.

The biggest centers of this Constituency is Grand Baie & Goodlands. Grand Baie, known to be the touristic center of the country has one of the foremost beautiful beaches, hotels and classic touristic boutiques. Goodlands is the most northern main residential and commercial town of this constituency. It is one of the pillars of the electoral area. Very famous political personality is Madan Dulloo who has been a member of the Labour Party, MSM and MMM. He has served as Member of Parliament elected in 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 2000 and 2005. However, he lost the last general elections held in 2010.

The members of parliament serving for this particular constituency are as follows^[7]

Constituency No 7

Piton and Riviere du Rempart is the seventh constituency and the last one of the three northern electoral boundaries of the Country. The constituency with an overall of Hindu majority has two important pillars which are, the commercial town, Riviere du Rempart and Piton. With 43,079 registered electors, this is a very historic constituency for being a bastion of the MSM since its formation.

The MSM founder Sir Anerood Jugnauth has been member of parliament for this constituency for nearly 50 years since his first election in 1963.

Piton and Riviere du Rempart has been a bastion of the MSM since 1983. It has had since, a very sensible population to criticism against Sir Jugnauth.

The members of parliament serving for constituency No 7 are as follows:

Constituency No 8

Quartier Militaire and Moka is an inland constituency with a registered number of 41,342 electors. With an absolute Hindu majority, this electoral boundary has important towns including Quartier Militaire, St Pierre and Moka with small adjacent villages including Camp Thorel, Solitude and Camp de Masque.

This constituency has been a bastion MSM for a long time. A constituency always dominated by the Jugnauth family. It is now a disputed constituency of the Jugnauth Political family, precisely between Pravind Jugnauth, leader of the MSM and former MSM member Ashock Jugnauth, (uncle of Pravind).

This constituency has always had a member of the Jugnauth family as Member of Parliament since 1987. Ashock Jugnauth has been elected first member serving in 1987, 1991, 2000 and 2005. Pravind Jugnauth has been elected in 2009, 2010 and 2014 and is the new Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation. The constituency counts two other ministers.

The members of parliament serving this constituency are as follows:

Constituency No 9

Flacq and Bon Acceuil is the ninth constituency of the country. It is a coastal electoral boundary and is made up of the main town Flacq with some adjacent towns including Bon Acceuil, Belle Mare and Lallmatie. It has registered number of 50,883 electors.

A constituency mainly of Hindus, it has been a bastion of politician Anil Bachoo who has been member of parliament serving since 1991. He has been elected back in 2000, 2005 and lastly 2010. Other notable politicians previously elected in this constituency include Sangeet Fowdar and Satya Faugoo.

The Members of parliament are as follows:

Constituency No 10

Montagne Blanche and Grand River South East is the 10th constituency of the country and is a coastal electoral boundary. Composed mostly of Hindus, it has a registered number of 47,296 electors.

Throughout history, this has been a typically Labour Party bastion. Former leader of the Labour Party, Sir Satcam Boolell was member of parliament serving more than 30 years in this constituency. It comprises Montagne Blanche, GRSE, Bel Air, Beau Champ and Trou d'au Douce.

The Members serving for this constituency are as follows:

Constituency No 11

Vieux Grand Port and Rose Belle is the eleventh constituency and is a coastal constituency.

References