30 Days to Complete Your Electoral Registration

Exactly one month from July 15, the electoral rolls with over a million registered voters in the 20 electoral districts of Mauritius, including those of Rodrigues, Agalega, and the Chagos archipelago, will come into effect. This is a crucial constitutional step ahead of the upcoming elections.

In parallel, the Electoral Commission is tasked with ensuring a smooth process for the by-election in Constituency No. 10, Montagne-Blanche/Grande-Rivière-Sud-Est, which will become invalid with the next dissolution of the National Assembly.

According to established procedures under the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, the deadline for withdrawing candidatures for the by-election in Constituency No. 10 expired this Sunday, July 14, and the allocation of symbols to remaining candidates will be confirmed subsequently.

However, it may take some time for the printing of ballots for the 56,000 registered voters in the 18 polling centers of Montagne-Blanche/Grande-Rivière-Sud-Est for the October 9 by-election.

In the meantime, during this second half of July 2024, the Electoral Commission’s priority will be to print new electoral registers, including implementing the recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Commission.

Le Mauricien sources confirmed that the final stages of verification are currently underway at the Electoral Commission.

Officially, it is indicated that new electoral registers will be available for consultation as early as August.

The suggestion made by Linion Moris that electoral rolls should be circulated in mid-July, considering the context of new constituency boundaries, cannot be realized. In this context, another urgent matter at the Electoral Commission headquarters concerns the possibility of same-day counting, or counting ballots immediately after voting ends during future general elections. In principle, Irfan Rahman, Electoral Commissioner, is still missing information from the Alliance Morisien on this issue.

A meeting between government members and Electoral Commission officials scheduled for Friday, July 12, has been rescheduled due to parliamentary works.

It was agreed that a memorandum would be submitted during the week instead. The Electoral Commission, which recently visited Rodrigues for consultation purposes after the February 2022 Regional Assembly elections, plans to submit a report to the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) for consideration by Secretary to Cabinet.

It is clear that there has been strong resistance so far against same-day counting at polling stations on election night.

However, Electoral Commission officials preferred not to pre-empt conclusions or decisions until all information is available and considering the concept of free and fair elections.

Regarding upcoming general elections, the Electoral Commission has completed its list of 14,000 officials to be deployed across 20 constituencies in Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Agalega.

However, if same-day counting is approved, these officials may not be sufficient.

One key point for these elections is that magistrates and judiciary members are reluctant to assume responsibility as Returning Officer or Deputy Returning Officer due to bad experiences with opposition petitions that were rejected by judicial authorities. This reflects their dignity and integrity.

Meanwhile, suspense surrounding whether police officers will receive an Operations Order canceling vacation leaves and other leave requests unless for emergencies ahead of elections.

As yet, no such directive has been issued from Police Headquarters.

Within political circles, consultations continued regarding candidate selection in 20 constituencies despite some cases being done under political pressure.

Pravind Jugnauth is planning to allocate tickets among government partners and PMSD within his alliance government’s strategy aiming “Three in a Row.”

However, considering constitutional provisions granting advantages to Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth ahead of National Assembly dissolution dates, from Prime Minister’s office, are not anticipating any surprises regarding preparations.

On the other hand, opposition, PTr, is planning an integration with ‘Rezistans & Alternativ’ that could secure at least two seats on this list. Discussions are ongoing regarding candidate selection in strategic constituencies.

Officially, leaders Navin Ramgoolam and Paul Bérenger are continuing discussions about candidate selection despite a joint committee drafting an electoral program for opposition parties being sent a message not to be taken by surprise regarding writing of program with sudden announcements about National Assembly dissolution by month-end…

Source: Le Mauricien