Parliamentary elections were held in Mauritius on 10 November. According to Mauritian news website Le Mauritian, Labor Party leader and former Prime Minister Naveen Ramgulam has won. At the same time, the current Prime Minister Pravind Jugnath's party Samajwadi Movement could not win a single seat.
PM Modi on Monday congratulated Naveen Ramgulam on his historic victory in the Mauritius parliamentary elections and invited him to India. Modi said he is keen to work together to strengthen the partnership between the two countries.
Some audio tapes went viral on social media in Mauritius last month. In which many allegations related to corruption were leveled against the government. This created a negative atmosphere in the country due to which the party suffered heavy electoral losses.
Pravind Jugnath reached the polling station with his wife Kovita on Sunday to vote.
What is the BLS system in Mauritius where the losing party is made an MP? The Parliament of Mauritius has 70 seats, but elections are held for only 62 seats. In this election, Ramgoolam's Labor Party's 'Alliance for Change' coalition has won 62 seats.
At the same time Jugnath's coalition Lelep did not get a single seat. Another party 'OPR' got 2 seats.
People of Indian origin are in majority in Mauritius. At the time of independence, people there were worried that people of Indian origin would always dominate the parliament and the rest would not be able to share in power. Better Loser System (BLS) was adopted in Mauritius to address their concerns. Under this, backward community people are given representation on 8 seats.
PM Jagannath admits defeat, father made him PM 7 years ago PM Jagannath has accepted defeat in the parliamentary elections. He said-
I did my best to set the country on fire, but the people have decided to make the other side victorious. I wish the people of the country good luck.
Jugnath was the Prime Minister of the country since 2017. His father replaced him as PM. After this he won the election in 2019. Just last month, Mauritius took control of the disputed Chagos Islands from Britain. He was trying to capitalize on this in the elections as well, but his party was embroiled in a major controversy.
A YouTube channel named 'Missy Mustas' leaked phone tapes of the country's top leaders, lawyers, officials and journalists in October. The leaked tapes have many revelations. A famous case involved a police officer who asked a forensic doctor to change the report of a man who died of custodial beating.
Due to which the government was greatly embarrassed. However, Jugnath Sarkar said that these recordings are not genuine, they are created with the help of AI. After this, social media was banned across the country on October 31. The ban continued till November 11.
Naveen Ramgulam will become the Prime Minister for the third time
Naveen Ramgulam was the Prime Minister between 1995 to 2000 and 2005 to 2015.
Both Jugnath and Ramgulam come from families that have dominated Mauritian politics since independence from Britain in 1968. Ramgulam, 77, is the son of Sivasagar Ramgulam, who brought independence to Mauritius. Ramgulam will become PM for the third time.
India has maintained good relations with Mauritius since its independence. An important reason for this is the predominance of the population of people of Indian origin there. Britain took laborers from India to Mauritius. Currently, 70% of its population of 12 lakh are of Indian origin.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
