{"id":282808,"date":"2024-11-12T10:30:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T02:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=282808"},"modified":"2024-11-12T10:30:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T02:30:31","slug":"mauritius-parliamentary-elections-prime-minister-accepts-huge-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=282808","title":{"rendered":"Mauritius parliamentary elections: Prime Minister accepts ‘huge defeat’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Pravind Jugnauth said he respects the people’s choice<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

PORT LOUIS, Nov 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — <\/strong>The prime minister of Mauritius has accepted that his coalition, L’Alliance Lepep, has suffered a “huge defeat” following Sunday’s parliamentary election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The population has decided to choose another team,” Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, 62, told journalists on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jugnauth was seeking a second five-year term, but his main rival, Navin Ramgoolam, 77, leader of the Alliance of Change coalition, looks set to become the next leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mauritius is known as one of Africa’s most stable democracies, but this election was tainted by a phone-tapping scandal, with leaked recordings of public figures posted online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the government issued a social media ban until after the election, although this led to an outcry and the decision was reversed within 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final results are yet to be released but Ramgoolam’s party looks set to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramgoolam, a former doctor, told reporters that his party was “heading towards a huge victory”, but didn’t go into any further detail as he said all votes must be counted first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We must respect this choice… and we wish the country and the population good luck,” said Jugnauth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mood in the capital Port Louis reflects this changing tide, as people gathered in hopeful anticipation of results that signal a fresh direction for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People were dancing and singing in the streets with vuvuzelas, the national flags in their hands and fire crackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost-of-living crisis has been a major issue for many Mauritians, along with a growing concern about governance and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the campaign trail, both parties promised to improve the lives of people on the islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramgoolam – whose father was a liberation hero and has already twice served as prime minister – said he would increase pensions, introduce free transport and internet and reduce fuel costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mauritius’ former foreign minister and a member of the opposition coalition, Arvin Boolell, said the election was a “victory of the people”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voter turnout was about 80%, according to the electoral commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citizens went to the polls to elect lawmakers for the 62 seats in parliament for the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, up to eight “best loser” seats are allocated to ensure fair ethnic representation in parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vote comes after a historic agreement in which the UK gave up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORT LOUIS, Nov 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The prime minister of Mauritius has accepted that his coalition, L’Alliance Lepep, has suffered a “huge defeat” following Sunday’s parliamentary election. “The population has decided to choose another team,” Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, 62, told journalists on Monday. Jugnauth was seeking a second five-year term, but his main rival, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":282812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282808"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282815,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282808\/revisions\/282815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/282812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}