1983 Mauritian general election

1983 Mauritian general election

21 August 1983 (1983-08-21)
All 62 directly elected seats in the Legislative Assembly (and up to 8 BLS seats)
Turnout	85.19% ( 3.65 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Anerood Jugnauth Paul Bérenger Party MSM MMM Alliance MSM–PTr–PMSD – Seats won 31 22 Seat change New 20 Popular vote 437,785 629,528 Percentage 31.70% 45.58% Alliance seats 46 Popular vote 716,860 Alliance % 51.90%
Alliance result by constituency. The colour shade shows the percentage of the elected candidate with the highest number of votes
Prime Minister before election Anerood Jugnauth MSM Subsequent Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth MSM

Early general elections were held in Mauritius on 21 August 1983. The result was a victory for an alliance of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), the Labour Party and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD), which between them won 46 seats. The Militant Socialist Movement won 32 seats, whilst the Labour Party secured ten seats and the PMSD five. On the other hand, the Mauritian Militant Movement was relegated to 22 seats, down from 42 in the last election. Voter turnout was 85.19%.

The election was called by Anerood Jugnauth, who became prime minister after winning in a landslide in 1982, five months after the governing coalition split due to disagreements between finance minister Paul Bérenger and Jugnauth. The latter formed the MSM in April 1983 and saw the Parti Socialiste Mauricien merge with the new party. Jugnauth remained as prime minister only with a narrow majority and unable to maintain that majority, he decided to call for early elections barely a year after the last one was called.

Jugnauth's electoral alliance allowed him to remain prime minister whilst bringing Gaëtan Duval, who became deputy prime minister, and Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who was appointed eventually as governor-general, back into the government after their severe defeat in the 1982 elections. Newly elected leader Satcam Boolell became the country's foreign minister.

The Mauritian Militant Movement suffered after the departure of Jugnauth and the split of the MMM-PSM alliance. Bérenger, the party's leader, was not popularly elected in his own constituency. However, under the Best Loser System, he secured his seat through the representational system. He was appointed afterwards as Leader of the Opposition, a post he held until 1987.

Electoral system

The Legislative Assembly has 62 directly elected members; 60 represent 20 three-seat constituencies, and two are elected from a constituency on the island of Rodrigues. The elections are held using the plurality block vote system with panachage, whereby voters have as many votes as seats available. In what is commonly known as the Best Loser System, should a community fail to win parliamentary representation, the Electoral Supervisory Commission can appoint up to eight unsuccessful candidates from these communities with the most votes. The Electoral Commission divides the electorate into four communities: Hindus, Muslims, Sino-Mauritians and the general population; the latter comprises voters who do not belong to the first three. Unless the Governor-General dissolves the Legislative Assembly early, members serve a five-year term.

Parties and candidates

Following the internal divisions of the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) between the factions of Jugnauth and Bérenger, the former's faction split and formed the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) on 8 April 1983, with members of the other governing party, Parti Socialiste Mauricien (PSM), joining and merging with the new party.

The MSM eventually formed an electoral alliance with the Labour Party led by Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. The alliance appeared on the ballot as MSM/Travailliste. The two parties also closely cooperated with Gaëtan Duval's Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD), with the alliance not deciding to field any candidates in constituencies where PMSD candidates stood. The PMSD stood in constituencies of Grand River North West-Port-Louis West, Curepipe-Midlands, Stanley-Rose Hill, Beau Bassin-Petite Rivière and Rodrigues. The MSM–PTr–PMSD alliance ran in all 21 constituencies.

As for the MMM, the party decided to run on its own without forming an alliance and contested in all mainland constituencies.

Major alliance/party		Member parties		Alliance leader	Candidates
	MSM–PTr–PMSD		Militant Socialist Movement	Anerood Jugnauth	35
			Labour Party		13
			Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate		14
	Mauritian Militant Movement			Paul Bérenger	60

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
						Cons	BL	Total	+/–
	Mauritian Militant Movement			629,528	45.58	19	3	22	–20
	MSM–PTr		Militant Socialist Movement	437,785	31.70	28	3	31	New
			Labour Party	138,211	10.01	9	1	10	+8
		Total		575,996	41.70	37	4	41	+39
	Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate			140,864	10.20	4	1	5	+3
	Rodrigues People's Organisation			15,981	1.16	2	0	2	0
	Lalit			3,116	0.23	0	0	0	New
	Front Mauricien Independent			2,637	0.19	0	0	0	New
	Parti Ouvrier Progressiste			2,143	0.16	0	0	0	New
	Mouvement Democrate Mauricien			1,036	0.08	0	0	0	New
	Groupement Mauricien			735	0.05	0	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Mauritius			704	0.05	0	0	0	New
	Mouvement Liberal Mauricien			572	0.04	0	0	0	0
	Groupement Progressiste			426	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Parti du Peuple Mauricien			358	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Groupement Socialiste du Sud			241	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian Muslim Rights			156	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Independents			6,658	0.48	0	0	0	0
Total				1,381,151	100.00	62	8	70	+4
Valid votes				464,465	98.82
Invalid/blank votes				5,543	1.18
Total votes				470,008	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				551,708	85.19
Source: OEC, OEC, Nohlen et al., Alliance candidate affiliations:

By constituency

Constituency		Elected MPs	Party
1	Grand River North West– Port Louis West	Mathieu Laclé		MMM
		Jérôme Boulle		MMM
		Rajnee Dyalah		MMM
2	Port Louis South– Port Louis Central	Noël Lee Cheong Lem		MMM
		Khalid Tegally		MMM
		Subhas Chandra Lallah		MMM
		Kamil Ramoly (best loser)		PTr
3	Port Louis Maritime– Port Louis East	Bashir Khodabux		MMM
		Osman Gendoo		MMM
		Cassam Uteem		MMM
		Ismaël Nawoor (best loser)		MSM
4	Port Louis North– Montagne Longue	Shree Krisna Baligadoo		MMM
		José Arunasalom		MMM
		Dinesh Mundil		MMM
		Sylvio Michel (best loser)		MSM
		Georgy Candahoo (best loser)		MSM
5	Pamplemousses–Triolet	Beergoonath Ghurburrun		PTr
		Diwakur Bundhun		MSM
		Dinesh Ramjuttun		MSM
6	Grand Baie–Poudre D'Or	Armoogum Parsooraman		MSM
		Sattyanand Pelladoah		PTr
		Madan Dulloo		MSM
7	Piton–Riviere du Rempart	Dwarkanath Gungah		MSM
		Anerood Jugnauth		MSM
		Mahyendrah Utchanah		MSM
8	Quartier Militaire–Moka	Kadress Pillay		MSM
		Vinod Goodoory		MSM
		Rashidally Soobadar		MSM
9	Flacq–Bon Accueil	Dev Kim Currun		PTr
		Ajay Daby		MSM
		Iswardeo Seetaram		PTr
10	Montagne Blanche– Grand River South East	Satcam Boolell		PTr
		Kader Bhayat		MSM
		Jagdishwar Goburdhun		MSM
11	Vieux Grand Port–Rose Belle	Anandisswar Choolun		MSM
		Nemchand Raj Molaye		MSM
		Radha Gungoosingh		MSM
12	Mahebourg–Plaine Magnien	Lutchmeeparsadsing Ramsahok		MSM
		Serge Thomas		PTr
		Suresh Chandra Poonith		MSM
13	Riviere des Anguilles–Souillac	Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo		MSM
		Amba Chinien		PTr
		Harish Boodhoo		MSM
14	Savanne–Black River	Sheilabai Bappoo		MSM
		Kishore Deerpalsing		MSM
		Roger Gaëtan Gungurum		MSM
15	La Caverne–Phoenix	Uttam Jawaheer		MMM
		Sahid Maudarbocus		MMM
		Yousuf Mohamed		PTr
16	Vacoas–Floreal	Karl Offmann		MSM
		Babooram Mahadoo		MSM
		Rohit Beedassy		MSM
		France Canabady (best loser)		MMM
17	Curepipe–Midlands	Gaëtan Duval		PMSD
		Marc Hein		PMSD
		Kailash Purryag		PMSD
18	Belle Rose–Quatre Bornes	Michael Glover		PTr
		Anil Gayan		MSM
		Dev Virahsawmy		MSM
		Paul Bérenger (best loser)		MMM
19	Stanley–Rose Hill	Jayen Cuttaree		MMM
		Jean-Claude de l'Estrac		MMM
		Shirin Aumeeruddy-Cziffra		MMM
20	Beau Bassin–Petite Riviere	Jean Régis Finette		MMM
		Hervé Duval		PMSD
		Rajesh Bhagwan		MMM
		Joceline Minerve (best loser)		MMM
		Marie Ghiselaine Henry (best loser)		PMSD
21	Rodrigues	France Félicité		OPR
		Serge Clair		OPR
Source: Electoral Commission