At stake in this election:      

• 62 (of 70) seats in Mauritius’ National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Rajkeswur Kailash PURRYAG (since 21 July 2012) *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM (since 5 July 2005)
• Assembly: Mauritius has a unicameral National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) with 70 seats.

* Former President Sir Anerood JUGNAUTH resigned on 31 March 2012.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by the National Assembly to serve a 5-year term.
• Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• In the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale), 62 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and 8 members are appointed by the election commission to serve 5-year terms.*

* There are 21 districts with 3 seats in each district, and 1 district representing the island of Rodrigues with 2 seats. In all but the last district, electors are given 3 votes. To ensure ethnic diversity, the electoral commission awards seats to the unsuccessful candidates who received the highest number of votes.

Election Note:

On Wednesday 10 December 2014, Mauritius will hold an election for the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale).[i]

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: The Labor Party / Parti Travalilliste (PTR or MLP) *
  • Leader: Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM
  • Seats won in last election: As part of the AF Alliance, it won 41 seats.
• Party: Mauritian Militant Movement / Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) *
  • Leader: Paul BERENGER
  • Seats won in last election: 18.
• Party: Militant Socialist Movement / Mouvement Socialist Mauricien (MSM) **
  • Leader: Pravind JUGNAUTH
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Maurition Social Democratic Party / Parti Mauricien Social Democrate (PMSD) **
  • Leader: Xavier Luc DUVAL
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

*Member of the MLP-MMM Alliance. The alliance is led by Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM.

**Member of the MSM-PMSD Alliance. The alliance is led by Anerood JUGNAUTH.

Last election:

• The last election to the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) in Mauritius was held on 5 May 2010.[ii] Turnout was 77.82 percent and 684,768 of 879,897 people casted ballots.[iii] The Alliance of the Future won 41 seats with 1,001,903 votes, while the Alliance of the Heart won 18 seats with 847,095 votes.[iv] Results can be found here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 1,331,155 (July 2014 est)[v]
• Registered Voters: 936,975 (November 2014)[vi]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 676,333 (July 2014 est)[i]
• Is Mauritius a signatory to CEDAW: No.[ii]
• Has Mauritius ratified CEDAW: Yes (9 July 1984)[iii]
• Gender Quota:  No.[iv]
• Female Candidates in this election: N/A
• Number of Female Legislators: 13 (19%) of 70 seats in the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale).[v]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 63[vi]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: Not Ranked (latest rankings are from 2014)[vii]