Abolish the right to vote for Commonwealth citizens, says lawyer

Lawyer Rama Valayden has urged Mauritian authorities to abolish the right to vote for Commonwealth citizens. He reportedly sent to this effect to Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.

Defi Media cited the lawyer as calling the Prime Minister to set up a committee, a commission or a “select committee” to bring immediate reforms on a number of issues around the right to vote for Commonwealth citizens.

The letter is said to be referring to allegations that Indian and particularly Bangladeshi workers in Mauritius were paid hefty rewards to vote for a particular party during the 2019 general elections.

Valayden urged Pravind Jugnauth to send a “good positive signal” to the nation by bringing an amendment to the constitution which will restrict the right to vote in general elections only to Mauritian citizens.

He claimed that only a very short amendment to the constitution is required, that is the deletion of article 42(1)(a) “he is a commonwealth citizen of not less than the age of 18 years;” and replacing these terms with “he or she is a Mauritian citizen of not less than the age of 18 years and”.