Mauritian general election, 1983

Mauritian general election, 1983

21 July 1983

All 60 seats in the National Assembly 31 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Sir Anerood Jugnauth Paul Berenger Party MSM MMM Leader since 1983 1983 Leader's seat Piton & Riviere Du Rempart Belle Rose and Quatre Bornes Last election 0 seats 48 seats Seats before 0 48 Seats won 46 21 Seat change 46 27 Popular vote 708,440 629, 536 Percentage 52.22% 46.40% Swing 52.22% 13.6%

Prime Minister before election Sir Anerood Jugnauth MMM Subsequent Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth MSM

General elections were held in Mauritius on 21 August 1983. The result was a victory for an alliance of the Militant Socialist Movement, the Labour Party and the Mauritian Social Democrat Party, which between them won 46 seats.^[1] The Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won 32 seats, whilst the Labour Party secured 9 seats and PMSD five. This alliance allowed Jugnauth to continue as Prime Minister while bringing Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Gaetan Duval back into the government after their severe defeat in the 1982 elections. Shortly after, Ramgoolam was appointed as Governor General, Duval became Deputy Prime Minister and Satcam Boolell (new leader of the labour Party) became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) suffered after the departure of Anerood Jugnauth (who resigned as Leader of the MMM in 1983 to form the MSM) and the Mauritian Socialist Party (the MMM's coalition party since 1982) from the government. The party's leader, Paul Berenger, was not popularly elected in his own constituency. However, under the best loser system, he secured his seat through the representational system. Berenger was afterwards appointed as Leader of the Opposition, a post he held until 1987.

Electoral system

The voting system involved twenty constituencies on Mauritius, which each elected three members. Two seats were elected by residents of Rodrigues, and up to eight seats were filled by the "best losers".^[2] Voter turnout was 81.1%.^[3]

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats			+/-
			Constituency	Best-loser	Total
MSM–Labour Party	575,996	41.7	41	5	46	+46
Mauritian Social Democrat Party	140,864	10.2
Mauritian Militant Movement	629,528	45.6	19	3	22	–20
Rodrigues People's Organisation	15,981	1.2	2	0	2	0
Lalit	3,116	0.2	0	0	0	New
Independent Mauritian Front	2,637	0.2	0	0	0	New
Progressive Labour Party	2,143	0.2	0	0	0	New
Mauritian Democratic Movement	1,036	0.1	0	0	0	New
Mauritian Grouping	735	0.1	0	0	0	New
Communist Party of Mauritius	704	0.1	0	0	0	New
Liberal Movement of the North	572	0.1	0	0	0	0
Progressive Movement	426	0.0	0	0	0	New
Mauritian People's Party	358	0.0	0	0	0	New
Socialist Grouping of the South	241	0.0	0	0	0	New
Mauritian Muslim Rights	156	0.0	0	0	0	New
Independents	6,658	0.5	0	0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	5,543	–	–	–	–	–
Total	470,008*	100	62	8	70	+4
Source: Nohlen et al.

* Total number of voters (voters could cast more than one vote).

References

1. Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p618 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
2. Mauritius: Background to the 1967 Legislative Assembly election EISA
3. Mauritius: 1983 Legislative Assembly election results EISA