Mauritius election: Scandals, low public trust and inflation give Opposition coalition clean sweep

Mauritius’ opposition coalition – the Alliance of Change – won the country’s November 10 election by a landslide, taking all the seats in parliament. Its leader, Navin Ramgoolam, has been appointed prime minister.

Mauritian politics scholar Roukaya Kasenally spoke to The Conversation Africa about what drove this outcome.

What’s behind the opposition’s landslide win?

The win by the opposition coalition was a clear sweep. No candidates from the outgoing government were elected; it’s what’s referred to as a 60-0. Mauritius uses the “first past the post” electoral model, where candidates with the highest number of votes are elected. Each of the 20 constituencies elects three members of parliament, often resulting in a “winner-takes-all” outcome.

The opposition coalition – the Alliance of Change – received 61.38% of the popular vote and the outgoing government’s coalition got 27.3%. This is a massive victory. In the previous election in 2019, the Militant Socialist Movement, led by Pravind Jugnauth, won the election with only 37% of the popular vote.

This is the third time in Mauritius’ post independence political history that a clear sweep has happened. The first was during the 1982 election and the second in 1995. This 60-0 phenomenon usually happens when political parties have been in power for a relatively long time.

In all three instances it was clear that voters had...

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