1991 Mauritian general election

15 September 1991 (1991-09-15)
All 66 seats in the National Assembly 35 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Anerood Jugnauth Navin Ramgoolam Party MSM–MMM–MTD PTr–MSDP Leader since 1983 1991 Leader's seat Piton & Riviere Du Rempart Pamplemousses and Triolet Last election 52 seats 13 seats Seats won 57 7 Seat change 5 6 Popular vote 944,521 670,631 Percentage 55.36% 39.30%
Prime Minister before election Anerood Jugnauth MSM Subsequent Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth MSM

Politics of Mauritius
Constitution
Presidency President Prithvirajsing Roopun Vice-President Eddy Boissezon
Government Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth Deputy Prime Minister Steven Obeegadoo Cabinet
Legislature National Assembly Speaker: Sooroojdev Phokeer Leader of the Opposition Xavier-Luc Duval
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice : Rehana Mungly-Gulbul
Elections Political parties Recent elections Presidential: 2008 General: 2019 2024
Administrative divisions Constituencies Districts Outer islands
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Alan Ganoo Diplomatic missions of / in Mauritius Passport Visa requirements Visa policy

General elections were held in Mauritius on 15 September 1991.^[1] Three main parties gained seats in this election: the Militant Socialist Movement, Mauritian Militant Movement and the Labour Party. The MSM formed an alliance with the MMM and the Labour party formed an alliance with the Mauritian Social Democrat Party (PMSD). On 17 September 1991, results showed that MSM-MMM won 57 seats out of 66 seats.^[2] This gave 95% of seats to MSM-MMM leader Anerood Jugnauth and 5% to Labour Party-PMSD leader Navin Ramgoolam.

Campaign

The main political parties taking part in the elections were the Militant Socialist Movement and Labour Party which were the current government, and the Mauritian Militant Movement which was the current opposition party. Earlier that year, Navin Ramgoolam^[3] became the leader of the Labour Party. As a result, the MSM-Labour Party coalition broke down in February 1991 because Ramgoolam demanded that the deal between the parties should be reviewed and that the MSM leader, Anerood Jugnauth, should hold the office of Prime Minister for half of the term (two and a half years), with Ramgoolam serving out the remainder of the term. However, Jugnauth did not want to step aside in favour of Ramgoolam. Ramgoolam then announced that his party would contest the elections due September on its own.

Jugnauth proposed an electoral pact with the Mauritian Militant Movement(MMM), the party which Jugnauth himself had formerly led between 1976 and 1983, before the formation of the MSM. The two parties agreed that Anerood Jugnauth would remain Prime Minister for the full term of 5 years and that MMM leader Paul Bérenger would serve in his Cabinet. Bérenger later became Minister of External Affairs.^[4]

During the term, Rama Sithanen, Sheila Bappoo and Daram Gockool defected from the MSM to the Mauritian Labour Party. The defections put the MSM under increasing strain, and Jugnauth came under pressure to hold general elections in 1995 rather than 1996, as constitutionally scheduled.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Cons	BL	Total	+/–
	MSM–MMM–MTD	944,521	55.36	57	0	57	+2
	Labour Party–MSDP	670,631	39.30	3	4	7	–6
	Rodrigues People's Organisation	16,080	0.94	2	0	2	0
	Socialist Workers' Front	12,162	0.71	0	0	0	0
	Rodrigues People's Grouping	11,646	0.68	0	0	0	0
	Liberal Action Party	6,053	0.35	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian People's Party	5,696	0.33	0	0	0	0
	Hizbullah	5,550	0.33	0	0	0	New
	Militant Workers Party	2,137	0.13	0	0	0	New
	Socialist Movement of the South	686	0.04	0	0	0	0
	Communist Party of Mauritius	358	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Mauritius Party Rights	243	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Tamil Fraternity of Mauritius	191	0.01	0	0	0	0
	Mauritius United Party	160	0.01	0	0	0	0
	People's Democratic Party	121	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Independents	30,005	1.76	0	0	0	0
Total		1,706,240	100.00	62	4	66	–4
Registered voters/turnout		680,836	–
Source: Nohlen et al., African Elections Database

References