1991 Mauritian general election

1991 Mauritian general election

15 September 1991 (1991-09-15)
All 62 directly elected seats in the National Assembly (and up to 8 BLS seats)
First party Second party   Leader Anerood Jugnauth Navin Ramgoolam Party MSM–MMM–MTD PTr–MSDP 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

General elections were held in Mauritius on 15 September 1991. 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 out of 66 seats. 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 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.

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 or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
						Cons	BL	Total	+/–
	MSM–MMM–MTD		Militant Socialist Movement	944,521	56.29	29	0	29	–2
			Mauritian Militant Movement			26	0	26	+2
			Democratic Labour Movement			2	0	2	+2
		Total				57	0	57	+2
	PTR–MSDP		Labour Party	670,631	39.97	3	3	6	–3
			Mauritian Social Democratic Party			0	1	0	–3
		Total				3	4	7	–6
	Rodrigues People's Grouping			11,646	0.69	0	0	0	0
	Liberal Action Party			6,053	0.36	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian People's Party			5,696	0.34	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	1.79	0	0	0	0
Total				1,677,998	100.00	62	4	66	–4
Registered voters/turnout				680,836	–
Source: Electoral Commission, Nohlen et al., African Elections Database

By constituency

Constituency		Elected MPs	Party
1	Grand River North West and Port Louis West	Mathieu Ange Laclé		MMM
		Edouard Jérôme Boulle		MMM
		Georges Alain Laridon		MMM
2	Port Louis South and Port Louis Central	Ahmad Sulliman Jeewah		MMM
		Abdool Azize Asgarally		MSM
		Noe Ah-Qwet Lee Cheong Lem		MMM
3	Port Louis Maritime and Port Louis East	Cassam Uteem		MMM
		Osman Gendoo		MMM
		Bashir Ahmud Khodabux		MMM
4	Port Louis North and Montagne Longue	Parmanund Brizmohun		MSM
		José Arunasalom		MMM
		Claude Raymond Genevieve		MSM
5	Pamplemousses and Triolet	Navin Ramgoolam		Labour
		Jyaneshwur Jhurry		MSM
		Premdut Koonjoo		MSM
6	Grand Baie and Poudre D'Or	Dharmanand Goopt Fokeer		MMM
		Madan Dulloo		MMM
		Armoogum Parsooraman		MSM
		Gaëtan Duval (best loser)		PMSD
7	Piton and Riviere du Rempart	Anerood Jugnauth		MSM
		Dwarkanath Gungah		MSM
		Mahyendrah Utchanah		MSM
8	Quartier Militaire and Moka	Ashok Jugnauth		MSM
		Sutyadeo Moutia		MSM
		Retnon Pyneeandee		MSM
9	Flacq and Bon Accueil	Anil Bachoo		MTD
		Rajnarain Guttee		MSM
		Roodrashen Neewoor		MSM
10	Montagne Blanche and Grand River South East	Ramduthsing Jaddoo		MSM
		Jagdishwar Goburdhun		MSM
		Mohammud Zeelannee Peerun		MMM
11	Vieux Grand Port and Rose Belle	Arvin Boolell		Labour
		Satish Dayal		MSM
		Subhas Chandra Lallah		MMM
12	Mahebourg and Plaine Magnien	Vasant Bunwaree		Labour
		Ivan Collendavelloo		MMM
		Mookhesswur Choonee		MSM
13	Riviere des Anguilles and Souillac	Hurreeprem Aumeer		MMM
		Prem Nababsing		MMM
		Ahmud Kasenally		MMM
14	Savanne and Black River	Alan Ganoo		MMM
		Claude Francis Germain Comarmond		MSM
		Sooroojdev Phokeer		MSM
15	La Caverne and Phoenix	Louis Steven Obeegadoo		MMM
		Iswurdeo Seetaram		MSM
		Showkutally Soodhun		MSM
		Razack Peeroo (best loser)		Labour
16	Vacoas and Floreal	Sheilabai Bappoo		MSM
		Dharambeer Gokhool		MSM
		Karl Offmann		MSM
17	Curepipe and Midlands	Louis Amédée Darga		MMM
		Philippe Epaminondas Gaston Maxime Sauzier		MSM
		Sanjit Kumar Teelock		MTD
		Clarel Desiré Malherbe (best loser)		Labour
18	Belle Rose and Quatre Bornes	Keertee Coomar Ruhee		MMM
		Rama Sithanen		MSM
		Michael James Kevin Glover		MSM
19	Stanley and Rose Hill	Jayen Cuttaree		MMM
		Jean Claude Gervais Raoul De Lestrac		MMM
		Paul Bérenger		MMM
		Siddick Chady (best loser)		Labour
20	Beau Bassin and Petite Riviere	Rajesh Bhagwan		MMM
		Marie Therèse Joceline Minerve		MMM
		Jean Régis Finette		MSM
21	Rodrigues	Serge Clair		OPR
		Joseph Jolicoeur		OPR
Source: Government of Mauritius