1976 Mauritian general election
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General elections were held in Mauritius on 20 December 1976.[1] They were the first general elections to be held since independence on 12 March 1968 and came nine years after the previous elections in 1967. Although elections had been scheduled for 1972, they were cancelled by the Labour Party–Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate–Muslim Committee of Action coalition government due to political unrest. The year prior to these elections was marked by the May 1975 Students protest riots.
The Mauritian Militant Movement won the most seats, but a coalition government was formed by the Independence Party (a coalition of the Labour Party, Muslim Committee of Action and Independent Forward Bloc) and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate. Around 400 candidates representing thirty-one parties contested the election, but only three parties won seats.[2][3] Voter turnout was 88%.[4]
Electoral system
The voting system involved twenty constituencies on Mauritius, which each elected three members. Two seats were elected by residents of Rodrigues, and eight seats were filled by the "best losers".[5]
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cons | BL | Total | +/– | |||||
| Mauritian Militant Movement | 469,420 | 38.69 | 30 | 4 | 34 | New | ||
| Independence Party | 461,949 | 38.08 | 25 | 3 | 28 | –3 | ||
| Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate | 200,559 | 16.53 | 7 | 1 | 8 | –19 | ||
| Independent Forward Bloc | 26,902 | 2.22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –12 | ||
| Mauritian Democratic Union | 12,505 | 1.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Progressive Socialist Party | 9,807 | 0.81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Rodrigues People's Organisation | 6,376 | 0.53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Mauritian Militant Socialist Movement | 5,372 | 0.44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Progressive Party of the South | 2,223 | 0.18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Republican Centre Party | 1,636 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Labour Unity Liberals | 800 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Mauritius Muslim Democratic League | 266 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Mauritius People's Progressive Party | 249 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Communist Party of Mauritius | 244 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Mauritius Muslim Rights | 236 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Mauritius United Party | 186 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Movement and the Mauritian Socialist Youth | 174 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| People's Democratic Party | 143 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Union of the General Population | 92 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Independents | 14,021 | 1.16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Total | 1,213,160 | 100.00 | 62 | 8 | 70 | 0 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 462,034 | – | ||||||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | ||||||||
References
- ^ "Mauritius: 1976 Legislative Assembly election results". EISA. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ Mauritius Inter-Parliamentary Union
- ^ Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p618 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
- ^ Mauritius: 1976 Legislative Assembly election results EISA
- ^ Mauritius: Background to the 1967 Legislative Assembly election EISA
External links
- 1976 Mauritian election day British Pathe
