2019 Mauritian general election

2019 Mauritian general election

7 November 2019 (2019-11-07)
All 70 seats in the National Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Pravind Jugnauth Navin Ramgoolam Party MSM Labour Party Alliance Mauritian Alliance National Alliance Seats won 42 17 Popular vote 805,036 699,807 Percentage 37.68% 32.76%   Third party Fourth party   OPR Leader Paul Bérenger Serge Clair Party MMM OPR Seats won 9 2 Popular vote 439,402 20,777 Percentage 20.57% 0.97%
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Pravind Jugnauth MSM Elected Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth MSM

General elections were held in Mauritius on 7 November 2019. The result was a victory for the Mauritian Alliance, a coalition of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), Muvman Liberater, Alan Ganoo Movement and Plateforme Militante, which won 42 of the 70 seats. Pravind Jugnauth of the MSM remained Prime Minister.

Electoral system

The National Assembly has 62 elected members elected in 20 three-seat constituencies and one two-seat constituency (the island of Rodrigues). The elections are held using the block vote system, whereby voters have as many votes as there are seats available.

In addition to the elected members, the Electoral Supervisory Commission has the power to appoint a further eight members. The additional members are chosen from amongst the unsuccessful candidates who received the highest number of votes, and are appointed with the aim of balancing the parliamentary representation of different ethnic groups.

Results

The ruling Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won over half of the seats in Parliament, meaning incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, who took over from his father Anerood Jugnauth in 2017, will serve a full five-year term as Prime Minister.

Of the 62 directly-elected seats, the MSM won 38, the Labour Party won 14, the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) won 8, and the Rodrigues People's Organisation (OPR) won 2 seats from the island of Rodrigues.

The seat allocation was disproportional to votes received, with a Gallagher index measurement of 17.94.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Cons	BL	Total
	Mauritian Alliance (MSM–ML–MAG–PM)	805,036	37.68	38	4	42
	National Alliance (PTR–PMSD–MJCB)	699,807	32.76	14	3	17
	Mauritian Militant Movement	439,402	20.57	8	1	9
	Reform Party	30,350	1.42	0	0	0
	Rodrigues People's Organisation	20,777	0.97	2	0	2
	Parti Kreol Morisien	19,302	0.90	0	0	0
	100 Citoyens	19,199	0.90	0	0	0
	Mauritian Solidarity Front	12,898	0.60	0	0	0
	Mauritian Social Democrat Party	10,975	0.51	0	0	0
	Lalians Lespwar	7,104	0.33	0	0	0
	Parti Malin	5,291	0.25	0	0	0
	Regroupement Socialiste Militant	4,849	0.23	0	0	0
	Les Verts Fraternels	4,803	0.22	0	0	0
	Lalit	4,119	0.19	0	0	0
	Mouvement Mauricien Social Démocrate	3,568	0.17	0	0	0
	Forum des Citoyens Libres	3,189	0.15	0	0	0
	Rodrigues Movement	2,462	0.12	0	0	0
	Front Patriotique Rodriguais Ecologique	1,656	0.08	0	0	0
	Mouvman Zeness Morisien	1,409	0.07	0	0	0
	Parti Lumière	1,307	0.06	0	0	0
	Muvman Independantis Rodriguais	1,231	0.06	0	0	0
	Mouvement Ene Sel Direction	1,080	0.05	0	0	0
	Mouvement Democratique Mauricien	588	0.03	0	0	0
	Ralliement Citoyen Pour La Patrie	503	0.02	0	0	0
	Republicain En Marche	493	0.02	0	0	0
	Front Socialiste	443	0.02	0	0	0
	Rassemblement Socialiste Mauricien	342	0.02	0	0	0
	Mouvement Entrepreneurs	285	0.01	0	0	0
	Small Planters, Labourers and Farmers Party	275	0.01	0	0	0
	Liberte sans Frontiere	236	0.01	0	0	0
	La Republique En Marche	228	0.01	0	0	0
	Mouvement Authentique Mauricien	206	0.01	0	0	0
	Party L'histoire Moris Selectif	169	0.01	0	0	0
	La Plateforme Sociale Curepipienne	78	0.00	0	0	0
	Four Cats Political Party	70	0.00	0	0	0
	Alliance pour L'Unité Mauricienne	61	0.00	0	0	0
	Mauritian National Congress	57	0.00	0	0	0
	Socialiste Militant Progressiste	53	0.00	0	0	0
	Independents	32,512	1.52	0	0	0
Total		2,136,413	100.00	62	8	70
Valid votes		718,398	99.06
Invalid/blank votes		6,838	0.94
Total votes		725,236	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		941,719	77.01
Source: OEC, OEC, OEC, OEC

Aftermath

Following the announcement of the results and the formation of a new government, several legal petitions were lodged in Supreme Court challenging the validity of the results, claiming electoral irregularities, a lack of transparency, undue influence by political activists and allegations of fraud and electoral bribery. The presence of independent monitors was claimed to have been ineffective. The government was also criticised for its intensive use of state media. Murdered activist Kistnen was rumoured to be about to disclose details of how 1,200 Bangladeshi nationals had been taken to vote multiple times in different constituencies and that the MSM had exceeded spending limits. However, according to international observers from the SADC and from the French diplomacy, the election was free and fair.