Mauritius - November 2024

Opposition coalition, the Alliance for Change (Alliance du Changement) won Mauritius’ legislative elections held on 10 November, securing 60 of the 62 (96.8 per cent) directly elected seats in the unicameral National Assembly. The Rodrigues People’s Organisation (Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais) won the remaining two seats, with the incumbent Alliance of the People (Alliance Lepep) coalition failing to secure an elected seat. Turnout was 79.3 per cent of registered voters (up from 77.0 per cent in 2019). Of the 891 candidates contesting the elections, 165 (18.5 per cent) were women, of whom 11 won seats. An additional woman was appointed to the Assembly by the country’s Electoral Commissioner as one of four unsuccessful candidates under the country’s Best Loser System, which allows for up to eight seats to be allocated to the highest-polling losing candidates from underrepresented ethnic groups. Women, therefore, hold 12 of the 66 (18.2 per cent) seats in parliament - down from 2019, when there were 14 female representatives in a then-larger Assembly of 72 seats (19.4 per cent). International observers assessed the elections to have been credible, transparent and peaceful, but criticised the under-representation of women among candidates.       

Sources: Office of the Electoral Commissioner (1), Office of the Electoral Commissioner (2), Le Mauricien, International IDEA, Defimedia, SADC Electoral Observation Mission, African Union Electoral Observation Mission