2000 Mauritian general election

General elections were held in Mauritius on 11 September 2000 to elect the members of the National Assembly.

2000 Mauritian general election

← 1995 11 September 2000 2005 →
All 62 directly elected seats in the National Assembly (and up to 8 BLS seats)
Turnout	80.86% ( 1.17pp)
First party Second party   Leader Anerood Jugnauth Navin Ramgoolam Party MSM Labour Party Alliance MSM/MMM Ptr–PMXD Seats won 58 8 Popular vote 951,643 672,336 Percentage 51.34% 36.27%
Result by constituency. The colour shade shows the percentage of the elected candidate with the highest number of votes
Prime Minister before election Navin Ramgoolam Labour Party Subsequent Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth MSM

The opposition Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) party decisively won the elections in coalition with the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), defeating the governing Mauritian Labour Party (MLP) led coalition. They formed together the MSM/MMM As a result, in a pre-election deal Anerood Jugnauth of the Militant Socialist Movement became Prime Minister of Mauritius before handing over to Paul Bérenger of the Mauritian Militant Movement in 2003.^[1]

Background

The Labour Party led by Navin Ramgoolam had governed Mauritius since winning the 1995 election. A new election had to be held by December 2000 and Ramgoolam dissolved parliament to call the election on 11 August 2000. He expected to be able to win the election in a three-way contest with the Mauritian Militant Movement and Militant Socialist Movement parties splitting the opposition vote between them.^[2] However ten days after the election was called the two main opposition parties agreed a deal.^[1][2]

The MSM led by Anerood Jugnauth and MMM led by Paul Bérenger agreed that if they won the election Jugnauth would become prime minister. They agreed that after three years he would step down as prime minister to become the president of Mauritius with enhanced powers, and that Bérenger would become prime minister, the first non-Hindu to do so.^[2]

Electoral system

The election was conducted under the first past the post system with three Members of parliament being elected from each of 20 mainland constituencies. A further two MPs were elected from the island of Rodrigues. Each voter was required to vote for three candidates with the possibility of panachage. Once these 62 MPs were decided the Supervisory Electoral Commission chose the eight 'best losers' to prevent any ethnic community or political party from being underrepresented. The Commission chose four MPs to balance the ethnic groups (Hindus, Muslims, Chinese and general population) and another four to balance the political parties. The 'best losers' could only come from candidates who came fourth in the 20 mainland constituencies.^[3][4]

Campaign

There were 43 parties putting forth 535 candidates but the main contest was between the two main coalitions that campaigned on similar platforms with the economy being the dominant election issue.^[5] The governing Mauritian Labour Party promised to raise civil servants' wages and reduce the prices of drinks while the main opposition attacked corruption. Both the government and opposition parties pledged to create 70,000 jobs.^[6]

The campaign was peaceful and election day was quiet with the sale or serving of alcohol banned for two days during the election to prevent trouble.^[7] Observers from the Southern African Development Community praised the election for its efficient and fair conduct and the high turnout.^[8] The opposition Mauritian Militant Movement and Militant Socialist Movement parties won a decisive victory almost wiping out the governing party and the Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam admitted defeat the day after the election.^[9] Gender activists were disappointed with the results which saw only four seats won by women, a decline on the previous election in 1995.^[10]

Results

Party or alliance		Votes	%	Seats
				Cons	BL	Total
	MSM-MMM	951,643	51.34	54	4	58
	Labour Party–PMXD	672,336	36.27	6	2	8
	Hizbullah	59,232	3.20	0	0	0
	National Democratic Movement Raj Dayal	54,960	2.97	0	0	0
	Rodrigues People's Organisation	17,317	0.93	2	0	2
	Rodrigues Movement	15,801	0.85	0	2	2
	Lalit	14,960	0.81	0	0	0
	Mauritian People's Party	6,478	0.35	0	0	0
	Nouvo Lizour	5,152	0.28	0	0	0
	Tamil Council	3,787	0.20	0	0	0
	Liberal Action Party	3,444	0.19	0	0	0
	Mauritian Authentic Movement	3,225	0.17	0	0	0
	Mauritian Action Committee	2,668	0.14	0	0	0
	Mauritian Democratic Movement	2,211	0.12	0	0	0
	Mauritian Union	1,672	0.09	0	0	0
	Mauritian National Movement	1,485	0.08	0	0	0
	Agricultural Planter Movement	665	0.04	0	0	0
	Mauritian Democracy	490	0.03	0	0	0
	Mauritian Party of Xavier-Luc Duval	449	0.02	0	0	0
	Socialist Labour Party	120	0.01	0	0	0
	Mauritius Party Rights	107	0.01	0	0	0
	Independents	35,263	1.90	0	0	0
Total		1,853,465	100.00	62	8	70
Valid votes		623,463	98.85
Invalid/blank votes		7,263	1.15
Total votes		630,726	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		780,031	80.86
Source: Electoral Commission, African Elections Database

By constituency

Constituency		Elected MPs	Party
1	Grand River North West– Port Louis West	Jean-Claude Barbier		MMM
		Ariane Navarre-Marie		MMM
		Jean-Claude Armance		MSM
		James Burty David (best loser)		PTr
2	Port Louis South– Port Louis Central	Emmanuel Leung Shing		MMM
		Rashid Beebeejaun		PTr
		Sahid Maudarbocus		MMM
		Ahmad Sulliman Jeewah (best loser)		MMM
3	Port Louis Maritime– Port Louis East	Smioullah Lauthan		MMM
		Siddick Chady		PTr
		Mohammad Nanchuck		MMM
		Mohammed Anwar Oomar (best loser)		MSM
4	Port Louis North– Montagne Longue	Meckduth Chumroo		MSM
		Gérard Clifford Grivon		MSM
		Joe Lesjongard		MSM
5	Pamplemousses–Triolet	Navin Ramgoolam		PTr
		Jyaneshwur Jhurry		MSM
		Devendranath Hurnam		MMM
6	Grand Baie–Poudre D'Or	Deelchand Jeeha		MMM
		Ashit Kumar Gungah		MSM
		Madan Dulloo		PTr
7	Piton–Riviere du Rempart	Anerood Jugnauth		MSM
		Balkissoon Hookoom		PTr
		Jai Prakash Meenowa		MMM
		Ravi Yerrigadoo (best loser)		MSM
8	Quartier Militaire–Moka	Parmessur Ramloll		MSM
		Ashok Jugnauth		MSM
		Darmarajen Nagalingum		MMM
9	Flacq–Bon Accueil	Anil Bachoo		MSM
		Sangeet Fowdar		MMM
		Premdut Koonjoo		MSM
10	Montagne Blanche– Grand River South East	Mookhesswur Choonee		MSM
		Ajay Gunness		MMM
		Rashad Daureeawoo		MSM
11	Vieux Grand Port–Rose Belle	Pravind Jugnauth		MSM
		Arvin Boolell		PTr
		Rajayswur Bhowon		MSM
		Motee Ramdass (best loser)		MMM
12	Mahebourg–Plaine Magnien	Anil Gayan		MSM
		Soudesh Roopun		MMM
		Ivan Collendavelloo		MMM
13	Riviere des Anguilles–Souillac	Hurreeprem Aumeer		MSM
		Abdool Nasser Issimdar		MMM
		Veda Balamoody		MMM
14	Savanne–Black River	Alan Ganoo		MMM
		José Arunasalon		MMM
		Prithvirajsing Roopun		MSM
15	La Caverne–Phoenix	Leela Dookun-Luchoomun		MSM
		Louis Steven Obeegadoo		MMM
		Showkutally Soodhun		MSM
16	Vacoas–Floreal	Nando Bodha		MSM
		Sewram Sakaram		MMM
		Sylvio Michel		MSM
17	Curepipe–Midlands	Eric Guimbeau		MMM
		Gérard Paya		MSM
		Mokshanand Dowarkasing		MSM
		Xavier-Luc Duval (best loser)		PMXD
18	Belle Rose–Quatre Bornes	Khushhal Chand Khushiram		MMM
		Prithviraj Auroomooga Putten		MSM
		Anne-Marie Danielle Perrier		MMM
19	Stanley–Rose Hill	Paul Bérenger		MMM
		Jaya Krishna Cuttaree		MMM
		Mohamed Feroz Abdoola		MSM
20	Beau Bassin–Petite Riviere	Rajesh Bhagwan		MMM
		Françoise Labelle		MMM
		Maurice Allet		MMM
21	Rodrigues	Jean Alex Nancy		OPR
		Serge Clair		OPR
		Nicolas Von Mally (best loser)		MR
		Joseph Christian Leopold (best loser)		MR
Source: Government of Mauritius