also Harry Booluck in Democracy in Africa (below):
Landslide Victory for Opposition
Opposition International Research Department
The Mauritius election on November 10, 2024, resulted in a remarkable landslide victory for the opposition Alliance for Change (ADC) coalition, led by Navin Ramgoolam[1][2][3]. Key highlights include:
- The ADC secured 60 out of 62 directly elected parliamentary seats[1][2]
- Current Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth conceded defeat before all votes were counted[2][3]
- Ramgoolam, a former three-time prime minister, will return to lead the government[1][2]
Election Context
The election was marked by:
- Corruption allegations against the incumbent government[2][3]
- Leaked recordings involving politicians and business figures[1][2]
- Ramgoolam’s pledge to dismantle the nation’s “spying apparatus”[1]
Democratic Significance
Mauritius, located 2,000 kilometers off Africa’s east coast, is recognized as one of the continent’s most stable democracies[1][2][3]. The election demonstrates the country’s commitment to democratic processes and peaceful power transition.
Sources
[1] Opposition secures landslide victory in Mauritius election https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/12/opposition-secures-landslide-victory-in-mauritius-election
[2] Mauritius opposition wins country’s election by a landslide https://apnews.com/article/mauritius-election-results-opposition-victory-landslide-af70d3a8810f7992cef4d1d75bbef769
[3] Mauritius opposition wins country’s election by a landslide https://halifax.citynews.ca/2024/11/12/mauritius-opposition-wins-countrys-election-by-a-landslide/
[4] Mauritius opposition wins country’s election by a landslide – ABC News https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mauritius-opposition-wins-countrys-election-landslide-115760794
[5] Mauritius Opposition Wins Country’s Election by a Landslide https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2024-11-12/mauritius-opposition-wins-countrys-election-by-a-landslide
[6] Mauritius opposition wins country’s election by a landslide https://abc17news.com/news/2024/11/12/mauritius-opposition-wins-countrys-election-by-a-landslide/
[7] Mauritius opposition wins country’s election by a landslide – KTVZ https://ktvz.com/news/2024/11/11/mauritius-opposition-wins-countrys-election-by-a-landslide/
[8] Mauritius opposition leader Ramgoolam appointed PM after landslide election
win https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/mauritius-opposition-wins-626-votes-election-commission-says-2024-11-12/
[9] Mauritius Opposition Claims Clean-sweep Election Triumph https://www.barrons.com/news/mauritius-opposition-leader-claims-sweeping-vote-win-875e2210
[10] Perplexity Elections https://www.perplexity.ai/elections/2024-11-05/us/president
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Democracy in Africa
Opposition wins big in Mauritius: A democratic reset?
By Harry Booluck on 12 November 2024
On 10 November 2024, Mauritius went to the polls in one of the most worrisome elections since the country’s independence. Amid concerns about growing surveillance, censorship and democratic backsliding, many citizens worried that the regime that came to power in 2019 would hand on to power by manipulating the process. Instead, the Alliance for Change won a remarkable landslide victory, taking all 60 seats in the legislature to completely wipe out the ruling party.
There were three main reasons for this. The main opposition alliance, the Alliance for Change, took appropriate measures to checkmate the incumbent, keeping a careful eye on the Electoral Commission and limiting the potential for manipulation. For their part, the election officers did an excellent job on polling day of acting transparency. They were encouraged to do this by a plethora of foreign observers from the African Union (AU), Southern African Development Community (SADC), the European Union, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Francophonie. The Electoral Commission also did a good job of dissipating unfounded news and creating an atmosphere of calm, cutting through the paranoia which encouraged many citizens to interpret any kind of development as an indication of an attempt to rig the polls.
Finally, citizens turned out in large numbers to cast their ballots for change. You can manipulate and overturn small election victories, but when the opposition wins by big margins all over the country there is no way to credibly stay in power through ballot box stuffing.
Polling day went on smoothly, starting from 07.00 till 18.00 hrs. However, in a quirk of the system, counting in Mauritius doesn’t start immediately at the same polling stations after the polls. Instead, the sealed ballot boxes are transported to the constituency counting station for next day counting. Party agents (representatives) follow the vehicles to prevent any ballot box swapping or the introduction of stuffed ballot boxes en route.
At the counting center, observers were placed not just inside the polling center but also outside for security reasons. Both AU and SADC find this archaic procedure to be a bizarre colonial era vestige, an ‘anachronism’ that has no ‘raison d’etre’ in the age of technology, as Mauritius is the only member of AU and SADC that still conducts a two-phase election process in which counting and voting are separated in this way.
As the votes started to be counted, it immediately became clear that the People’s Alliance government was going to struggle. Despite all of the concerns about democratic backsliding – or perhaps because of them – the turn out was abnormally high and the vast majority of voters rejected the government, as Afrobarometer survey data has suggested they would. In addition to creeping authoritarianism, voters were motivated about poor economic management, limited job creation, and rising corruption.
As counting progressed, the gulf between the Alliance for Change and the People’s Alliance kept widening in all the 20 constituencies (each returning the members to parliament) until eventually the score was an unexpected 60-0 for the opposition. For only the third time in the country’s history, the ruling party was wiped out. It will now be up to civil society groups, citizens, and the media to hold the new government to account in the absence of a legislative opposition.
The lesson that Africa and other regions struggling to defend democracy can draw from the Mauritian experience is that if there is a determined will among the public, there will be a way. When the people decide to take the destiny of the country in their own hands, they will eventually decide who will rule them.
Harry Booluck, former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Mauritius.