The Eastern African island nation of Mauritius on Thursday went to the polls where incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) emerged victoriously. As per the Mauritian constitution, the prime minister is appointed by the president: The latter must, however, appoint the party leader with a clear majority in the National Assembly. MSM won 38 of the 62 seats while its main rivals, the Labour Party and the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), garnered 13 and 9 seats respectively. The Organisation of the People of Rodrigues (OPR) party garnered 2 seats.
The country’s National Assembly has 62 elected members, with an additional eight members appointed to ensure ethnic and religious minority representation. According to the electoral commission, 76.84 percent or 723,660 of those eligible to do so turned out to cast their votes.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observer Mission deployed to Mauritius and led by Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Dr Sibusiso Moyo, has described the electoral process prior to the voting exercise as professionally organized and conducted in a peaceful environment.
“The Mission observed that the pre-election and voting phases of the 2019 National Assembly Elections were professionally organized, conducted in an orderly, peaceful and free atmosphere, which enabled the voters to express their democratic will and those who sought office campaigned freely,” said Minister Moyo while presenting their preliminary observer report in Port Louis over the weekend.
Prime Minister Jugnauth, succeeded his father when the latter, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, resigned from the post in 2017. The senior Jugnauth has held the positions of Prime Minister and President intermittently between 1982 and 2017.