2024 Mauritian general election

2024 Mauritian general election

10 November 2024
All 70 seats in the National Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority
Incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth MSM

General elections are due to be held in Mauritius on 10 November 2024. The election was called after the government reached a deal with the United Kingdom to end the Chagos Archipelago dispute. Shortly before the election, a wire-tapping scandal surfaced. The government responded by implementing a social media ban that was to last until after the election but was instead lifted a day later following public outcry. Alliances contesting the election include Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth's Alliance Lepep and Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam's Alliance du Changement.

Background

At the 2019 snap election, the governing Mauritian Alliance, led by Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, won re-election, securing 42 seats. The opposition National Alliance, led by former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, won 17 seats. Former Prime Minister Paul Bérenger's Mauritian Militant Movement secured nine, and the Rodrigues People's Organisation retained its two seats. Jugnauth succeeded his father, Anerood Jugnauth, as prime minister in 2017, which was met with accusations of nepotism by the opposition. Observers attributed the government's victory to economic growth and the commencement of infrastructure projects. The opposition and civil society groups alleged irregularities, including reports of misplaced ballots and inadequately trained election workers.

After the election, Surendra Dayal, who unsuccessfully contested Prime Minister Jugnauth's constituency of Quartier Militare and Moka, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the constituency's result. Dayal claimed that Jugnauth and the other two successful candidates, who were also from the Mauritian Alliance, had engaged in bribery and undue influence to win their seats. The case was dismissed on appeal in 2023.

Wire-tapping scandal

In October 2024, a wire-tapping scandal broke out; the phone calls of numerous journalists, politicians, civil society members and foreign diplomats were reportedly tapped and leaked on the internet. Prime Minister Jugnauth and the Mauritius Police Force claimed that artificial intelligence had modified the leaked calls. Journalists affected by the tapping, however, said the calls were authentic. One journalist alleged the government's AI claims were an attempt to deflect attention from the scandal's fallout.

Jugnauth announced an emergency committee would investigate the breach. Citing national security concerns, the government implemented a social media ban on 1 November, to last until the day after the election. Four suspects, including a former CEO of Telecom Mauritius, were arrested that day. The opposition claimed the ban was politically motivated and aimed at preventing the Jugnauth government's defeat at the polls. Following widespread public uproar, the government reversed the ban on 2 November.

Chagos Archipelago agreement

On 3 October, the Mauritian government announced an agreement with the United Kingdom had been reached that would end the Chagos Archipelago dispute, subject to a final treaty. The UK would relinquish the archipelago's sovereignty to Mauritius; however, Diego Garcia, which hosts a United States military, would be leased for 99 years. Jugnauth said the lease would provide Mauritius with "billions of rupees". The deal was met with varied reactions by the exiled Chagossians. While they praised the agreement as a likely step to return to the article, many Chagossians criticised the Mauritian and British governments for failing to include them in the negotiations. Opposition Leader Navin Ramgoolam and Paul Bérenger welcomed the transfer of the archipelago but criticised Jugnauth for agreeing to the lease of Diego Garcia. The Linion Moris party accused Jugnauth of using the deal for political gain. The day after the announcement, on 4 October, Jugnauth called the election.

Electoral system

The National 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 block vote system, 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 president dissolves the Legislative Assembly early, members serve a five-year term.

Eligible candidates and voters are required to be at least 18 years old, citizens of the Commonwealth and have resided in Mauritius for at least two years before the nomination date. A total of 1,002,857 individuals were registered to vote in this election. Public officials stationed in Mauritius but enrolled in constituencies in Rodrigues or Agaléga and vice-versa are eligible to apply for proxy voting. Candidates have to be proficient enough in English to participate in parliamentary procedures and declare which community they belong to. They also require the nomination from at least six electors in their constituency and a deposit to be paid, which is refunded if they obtain at least 10% of the vote. Individuals ineligible to be contestants include those who have committed electoral offences, have served a prison sentence exceeding 12 months, have undisclosed government contracts or have undisclosed bankruptcy.

Parties and candidates

The candidate nomination deadline was on 22 October. A total of 73 parties or alliances were registered to contest the election. Two major coalitions were formed before the election: Alliance Lepep, led by Prime Minister Jugnauth and Opposition Leader Ramgoolam's Alliance du Changement. In addition to Jugnauth's Militant Socialist Movement, other member parties of the Alliance Lepep include Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate, Muvman Liberater, Plateforme Militante and Muvman Patriot Morisien. Parties in Alliance du Changement included Ramgoolam's Labour Party, former Prime Minister Paul Bérenger's Mauritian Militant Movement, Rezistans ek Alternativ and Nouveaux Démocrates. A total of 891 candidates contested the election, Alliance Lepep and Alliance du Changement fielded 60 candidates each. There were 514 independent contestants, and the remaining candidates were affiliated with other parties or alliances. As in the 2019 election, the Rodrigues People's Organisation only contested the Rodrigues constituency.

Major alliance		Member parties		Alliance leader
	Alliance Lepep		Militant Socialist Movement	Pravind Jugnauth
			Muvman Liberater
			Muvman Patriot Morisien
			Plateforme Militante
			Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate
	Alliance du Changement		Labour Party	Navin Ramgoolam
			Mauritian Militant Movement
			Nouveaux Démocrates
			Rezistans ek Alternativ