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SADC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM APPLAUDS MAURITIAN ELECTION
by Hugh McCullum

All electoral processes of the just-concluded Mauritian parliamentary elections enjoy a unique confidence from voters, politicians and government in a climate accustomed to the regular, democratic change of government. This is the main conclusion drawn by the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) observer mission who has been in the country for five days.

SADC-PF brought an observer mission of 10 regional MPs, co-ordinated by Kasuka Mutukwa, the secretary-general, for the Sept. 11 vote. Although Mauritian electoral law does not provide for official observers from outside the country, as a member of SADC-PF it welcomed the mission within the constraints of the law. The observers were not able to enter the polling stations nor observe the counting.

Despite this difficulty, however and on short notice since Mauritius' elections were not expected until December, the mission met with all political alliances, the ESC and Electoral Commissioner, civil society, media and visited the 21 constituencies, including Rodrigues which is 650 km east of the main island.

The mission made a number of positive observations within its mandate as a regional autonomous organization of SADC established under the SADC Treaty:

• Mauritians express full confidence in their electoral management bodies and the electoral process in a manner unprecedented elsewhere. The independence from political or other influence is remarkable;
• the country has made deliberate efforts to accommodate its multi-cultural and multi-ethnic communities through constitutional provisions that provide a model for tolerance inclusion of racial, minority and ethnic groups;
• the best losers and block-voting system is unique in the region as a system for inclusion;
• Mauritius has held competitive elections for more than 30 years and holds polls at various levels at regular intervals, thereby sensitizing the local population and providing voter information;
• registration is done "at the doorstep" which, the mission says, ensures that the electorate participates fully in exercising its rights and may explain the high voter turnouts and lack of voter apathy;
• although Mauritius has never before allowed foreign election observers, the SADC team, both major political alliance leaders committed themselves to amend the 1958 act which prohibits election monitoring and observation;
• campaigning and the massive closing rallies were observed and the mission noted the large and peaceful attendance at campaign events while the presence of only unarmed police was not intimidatory. An air of maturity and tolerance permeated the election scene; and
• the media, except television, is privately-owned and covered the election extensively. Bias in favour of the ruling party was alleged against Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and both alliance leaders have promised to end the politicization of the national broadcaster.

In its conclusions, the observer mission noted the "extremely high voter turnout of 81 percent, the efficient and fair conduct of the electoral process and the commitment of the people of Mauritius to the ideals of democracy. The mission visited all constituencies and did not observe any serious defects but "boldly emphasized that in the interest of transparency, particularly in light of the changing regional climate, access by relevant SADC institutions to observe all aspects of the process" was necessary.

The members of the mission were MPs from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The SADC-PF criticised the lack of participation by women in elections and in party programmes - only four women, all from the ruling alliance, were directly elected, a decrease of two since the 1995 election -- would make it difficult for Mauritius to achieve the SADC goal of 30 percent women in parliament by 2005.

The Militant Mauritian Movement (MMM) and its partner the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won 54 seats to only six for the Labour-dominated alliance. Veteran politician, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, 73, the aristocratic Hindu who has already been prime minister for 13 years at various times, takes office from Navin Ramgoolam.

His deputy is another professional politician, Paul Berenger, 55, leader of the MMM. In a deal made about three weeks before the election, Jugnauth will serve as prime minister for three years when he will become the president of Mauritius and Berenger will take over the powerful prime minister's position. President Cassim Uteem, the current head of state, who is appointed by the House of Assembly, is expected to have his term extended by one year to accommodate the arrangement.

Some 81 percent of the 790,000 plus registered voters cast ballots for more than 40 parties and independent candidates in 20 constituencies. Two seats on offshore Rodrigues Island were taken by local parties who usually join the ruling coalition in the House of Assembly and get a cabinet post. The independent Electoral Supervisory Commission selects another eight "best losers" to balance ethnic and political minorities but this does not affect the balance of the voters' decision.

While the MMM/MSM alliance was cobbled together quickly when Ramgoolam called a snap election on 11 August with four months remaining in his mandate, Jugnauth and Berenger are no strangers to alliance government. They were partners twice before in forming governments but these alliances did not hold and invariably Berenger returned to opposition.

Indeed, the big question today aside from the blaring chaotic celebrations across the island, is whether the alliance can stick long enough for Jugnauth to establish himself, amend the constitution to strengthen the presidency and take that unelected ceremonial office within three years. Berenger has walked out of three alliances in his 30 years in politics including the two others with Jugnauth and a third with Ramgoolam in 1995 which wiped out the MSM.

Analysts are adamant that the current winning alliance is the last chance for both men. "Juganuth is too old and if Berenger splits this alliance again before he becomes prime minister, the voters will never give him another chance," said Vinod Boolell, a former Supreme Court justice and legal consultant. (SARDC)

Credits: SARDC - Hugh McCullum.