Council Elections in Mauritius

Elections Municipales a Maurice par GDL

The recent council elections in Mauritius saw  the opposition winning three out of the five councils.
In can be said, three and a half because in Curepipe, the opposition did not win nor did loose. Each of the major blocks won seven seats each. One independent from the MMSD will decide who will administer the town for the next five years.

It was a lost for the government as they have been too long in control of the towns. Instead of having the elections after the five-year term, they stayed in power for another two years. This postponement of the elections was purely a tactic from the central government allowing the councillors to stay in their positions and enjoyed. Unfortunately, they did not use these additional two years towards a more responsible approach but kept indulging in inner bickering, routs and corrupt behaviours.
It looks as if the sound and effective administration of the towns and the welfare of the city dwellers was not their priority.

The leader of the Government and the ruling coalition realising that their councillors have not been up to scratch, put a new team to face the elections. The Prime Minster, Navin Ramgoolam, invested in the campaigns and even danced the sega in the streets to attract media attention. He also got mad when the national television did not show him campaigning at Cite Atlee in Curepipe.

According to an article by Anil Gayan which appeared in L'Express on 11th December 2012, Navin Ramgoolam played the division game during the campaign. He has a type of rhetoric to the Muslims of Plaine Verte and used another language to the Hindus of Palma and La Source. According to the author, this was an attempt at balkanising Mauritius and dividing the electorate on community grounds. Anil Gayan expressed his disgust at such a tactic by the Prime Minister of the country. Many times Navin forget that he is a statesperson and feel more comfortable in the politician role. This is not only a weakness on his part but a shortcoming. He lacks the stature of a PM.

However, this is no strange or new; Navin Ramgoolam  won the past elections while playing on the emotions of the Hindus in rural areas telling them not to vote Paul Berenger as he is not an Hindu. This strategy of divide and rule has up to now worked in his favour. But not this time it seems.

This time he  tried to sow division between the Muslims and the Hindus and targeted Aneerood Jughnuth as the enemy of Muslims. He vehemently attacked SAJ seein him as a direct competitor,  more so because the Jughnuths  are of the same cast as him, Vaish. The results in Sodnac in Quatre Bornes show that there is a change of voting patters of the Hindus. They do not overwhelmingly support Navin Ramgoolam and his corrupt government.

While the victory was overwhelming in Beau Bassin/ Rose Hill, the results were tighter  in Port Louis and Quatre Bornes but a win is a win. It was a psychological boost for the opposition which will give hope to their supporters that the next general elections are winnable.

No matter what happened in Curepipe, the facts are, the government has lost control over the town councils and apparently even in the village councils. The voters sanctioned the government councillors for their lack of dignity, for their abuse of power, the maladministration of the towns and their manze, bwar, amuse, voyager attitudes.

The writings are on the walls for the government alliance. Having all the ministers on the campaign trail,( some even to the extent of bribing the electorate with macaroni packets), was toxic for the government as they are all perceived to be corrupt and incompetent. They repulse the people more than they attract them. There was also the broyani affair which the people of Quatres Bornes were waiting to sanction Nita Deerplasing,  the campaign manager in the town.

The Remake 2000, through these results received the blessing of the people of the towns ( and also of the villages ). But the tandem SAJ and PB need to work harder and not take for granted that the wave is bulding up and the tsunami will strike in 2015.