Opposition wins landslide victory in Mauritius elections | Elections News

Former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has won a third term in the Indian Ocean country, official results show.

Opposition leader Navin Ramgoolam has won a landslide victory in Mauritius’ parliamentary elections, the election commission said.

The Office of the Election Commissioner said on Tuesday that Rangoolam and his Alliance of Change (ADC) coalition won 62.6 percent of the vote, securing the three-time former prime minister a fourth term.

The ADC won 60 of the 62 seats in the National Assembly, state broadcaster Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation reported.

“The people’s court has ruled and a new Mauritius is awakening,” Rangolam, 77, told a crowd of supporters, amid loud cheers and blaring horns.

Ramgoolam was Prime Minister from 1995 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2014.

In addition to the 60 seats for Mauritius, two were up for grabs for the island of Rodrigues and a further eight allocated under what is called the “best loser” system.

The winner-takes-all election model means that separate coalitions often dominate parliament.

‘Free to talk’

Incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth had admitted on Monday that his Lepep alliance, led by his Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), was “heading for a colossal defeat”.

“The people have chosen another team to lead the country,” Jugnauth, who has been prime minister since 2017, told reporters.

Just last month, the 62-year-old prime minister celebrated a historic agreement in which Britain ceded sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after a long-running dispute.

But the vote was overshadowed by an explosive wiretapping scandal, in which secretly recorded telephone conversations of politicians, diplomats, members of civil society and journalists were leaked online.

Ramgoolam said that after his landslide victory, he would first dismantle the country’s “espionage system so that Mauritians will be free to talk.”

Economic challenges

During the campaign, both camps pledged to improve the lot of Mauritians, who face cost-of-living challenges despite robust economic growth.

Measures outlined in the Alliance of Change manifesto include the creation of a fund to support struggling families, free public transport, higher pensions and lower fuel prices, as well as efforts to tackle corruption and the green economy to stimulate.

It also called for constitutional and electoral reforms, including changing the way the president and speaker of parliament are elected.

At least a million people were registered to vote on Sunday in the twelfth election since Mauritius gained independence from Britain in 1968.

Located some 2,000km off the east coast of Africa, Mauritius is recognized as one of the continent’s most stable democracies and has developed a successful economy since independence, supported by the financial, tourism and agricultural sectors.

Both Jugnauth and Ramgoolam are members of the dynasties that have dominated Mauritius’ leadership since independence.

Ramgoolam, who previously worked as a doctor and lawyer, is the son of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who led Mauritius to independence from Britain.