or: Experiencing a Mauritian Election

Many years ago, I was in a small village in Italy during their Games. The village was decorated and flags from either team hung from terrace windows and gave a clear indication of the allegiance of those inside as well as marking the border of the exact half of the area – no-one from the left side would support the team from the right and vice versa.

The Games were held every few years to see which family / team were the best in archery on horseback, sword fighting etc. These were old school Games and I arrived during the height of it.

I inadvertently had the same timing with my arrival in Mauritius.

It was the start of the legislative elections and it was very much like the Games of the village in Italy.

Each village was divided though, in the Mauritian way, it was a lot more random. In the street I live, part of the street supported the Orange Team, part supported the Red / Blue Team (a coalition) and none seemed to support the Purple Team (who even had hearts on their campaign posters).

In some of the other areas where I spend time, there were banners and bunting decorating the street that covered all the parties (there are quite a few others – greens, pinks etc) and it looked like people were preparing for New Year’s Eve.

Cars with loudspeakers attached to the roof or out of their windows would blast messages about one party or another while their coloured flags flapped in the wind like a dog’s tongue when hanging out the window. The messages ranged from inviting people to political meetings through to campaign slogans. Japan is the only other country I have seen do this in the same way.

In each village, the various political parties had given some residents some cash to set up little information stores for the two week campaign period. Some hosted domino parties and drinks while discussing politics, other played music.

It is the only time I have ever seen or heard people actively taking an interest in local politics. That said, perhaps it does happen more frequently and I am not so aware of it due to my not having an awesome understanding of the local languages as yet.

I am aware though that at least two parties (including the incumbent) promised to raise the pension to about double its current amount. This is also well above the minimum wage of Mauritius.

Neither party seemed to mention how they would fund it and some discussions I heard did suggest this promise helped gain quite a few voters without them having realised that this increase is likely to be at the expense of their children or they would have to pay a goods and services tax or similiar. 

In one case, they promised to do this within one month of the election. Now that would be interesting to see how they would fund it so quickly.

As is typical with political discussions, sometimes they became quite rowdy and closer to the election itself, it did get a little out of hand in some areas.

For this reason, the day before, the day of and the day after (which is when counting happens) of the election, nowhere is allowed to sell / serve alcohol. As is also the way with Mauritius, depending on who you know and how you ask, there is also a way around this.

The election was on Thursday and it was a public holiday so there isn’t an excuse to miss voting. I thought this was very Australian to have a public holiday to vote but the no alcohol had me revise this view fairly quickly. I also didn’t see any sausage sizzles.

On the day of voting, people are even collected in their homes by the various political parties to ensure they collect their vote. Voting happens in the local schools and you can only vote if you have participated in the census and are then on the electoral role.

Sometimes whole areas are missed off the census. You could argue it is because the incumbent government is a little concerned they may not get in if those people voted.

The flip side happens too. People turn up to vote to find their vote has already been taken. I’m not exactly sure how this is possible however I have heard that people were seen in the streets with the ballot papers so perhaps this is part of it. 

As is the Mauritian way, this will be investigated however I’m not sure how rigorously or if the results will be believed.

And this is another reason for some of the violence. 

Once the winner was announced, their supporters go around and cut down the bunting and advertising of their rivals. I’m not sure who cleans up all the mess or when that part happens.

This whole two week period has been a cross between a football grand final, New Year’s Eve preparations and evangelical concert and politics. It has brought people together and divided villages and families at the same time.

It has been an unusual process to watch and not one I understand at this time.

I have five years to research and prepare for my next political blog post and by that time, perhaps I’ll even explain how the parties are all divided and the election process works.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the colours and the community feel in my area.

 

Thanks to Empire of the Son for the title to this post. 

 

PS – the winners were the Orange Party. They were the ones that were already in and the Prime Minister stepped into that role after two years of his father in that position (ie he wasn’t voted in, he was appointed by his Dad) so this is a big deal to him.