Historical Context and Current Challenges Chapter 2 Assessment Report (CSAR), the following coalition governments have been formed since independence: 58 • • • • • • • In the 1976 elections, the MLP (which won 37.9 per cent of the votes) formed a coalition with the PMSD (which won 16.20 per cent of the votes) and so acquired a majority in the National Assembly. In the 1982 elections, the MMM formed a coalition with the Parti Socialiste Mauricien (PSM), acquiring all 60 seats in the National Assembly. In 1983, a rift in the ruling MMM/PSM coalition resulted in a group of MMM members (led by Paul Bérenger) leaving the government. Those MMM parliamentary representatives who stayed, as well as the members of Parliament (MPs) of the PSM, formed the above-mentioned MSM. Sub-sequently, the MSM, the MLP and the PMSD formed a coalition called The Alliance, which secured comfortable majorities in the elections of 1983 and 1987. In the 1991 elections, the MSM formed a coalition with the MMM and won 56.3 per cent of the votes. In the 1995 elections, a new partnership was forged between the MLP and the MMM, which won the full complement of seats (60) in the National Assembly. In the 2000 elections, the MMM formed a coalition with the MSM, winning 52 per cent of the votes. In 2003, Paul Bérenger became the first Franco-Mauritian and non-Hindu prime minister, serving as premier for the final two years of the coalition’s five-year term. The two parties had previously agreed that Anerood Jugnauth, the leader of the MSM, would serve as prime minister for the first three years only, at which point he would step aside and let Bérenger take over. In the 2005 elections, the MLP joined forces with the Parti Mauricien Xa-vier-Luc Duval (PMXD), the Mouvement Socialiste Militant Mauricien (MSMM), the Mouvement Républicain (MR) and the Les Verts Fraternels (The Greens) to form the Alliance Sociale, which was voted into power with an overwhelming majority. Chapter 2 Box 2.3: Historical Context and Current Challenges Mauritius: Consolidating democracy Mauritius has established itself as an enduring democracy in Africa. Since independence, the country has successfully staged nine elections. These have been held at regular intervals and, in each case, the outcome has been broadly accepted by the general public. Mauritius’s pluralistic democracy means that a diversity of ideologies is represented at national, district and local level. This has ensured the institutionalisation of a culture of democratic and constitutional governance in the country, as well as political stability. In this regard, Mauritius stands out as a beacon on the continent. Mauritius is one of the more unique African countries in terms of the ethnic, religious and racial diversity of its inhabitants. The population’s ancestors hail from three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. Despite the obvious complexities such mixed-heritage relations present, the country’s various leaders have made a concerted effort to accommodate differences and to manage the diversity of interests, perspectives, concerns and agendas in such a way that conflict is avoided. The Creole population 9 51. The Mauritian population of African descent, including those whose ancestors came from Madagascar, is often referred to as the ‘Creole population’ or, more typically, ‘the Creoles’. Originally from East Africa (principally Malawi, Mo-zambique, Tanzania and Zambia), the first Africans to arrive on the island were brought to work as slaves for the ruling European elite. The disparate groups were regarded as an undifferentiated mass by their masters, who organised their new labour force in a completely haphazard manner, paying no attention to the differing cultural, ethnic, religious or social qualities that distinguished one group from another. As a result, it became impossible for the Malawians, Mozambicans, Tanzanians and Zambians to maintain the family and kinship structures, cultural practices and language(s) of their mother countries. Without a common language to unify them, the Mauritian slaves created a new one, loosely based on the French language, which became known as ‘Creole’. Indeed, an early form of the Creole language was already in existence in 1772, as described by the author and traveller, Bernardin de St Pierre, in her book Voyage à L’Ile de France, where the patois spoken by the slaves is noted. The slaves were converted to Roman Christianity, and the vast majority of the modern-day Creole population is Catholic. However, the Creole population has also preserved and maintained some of the religious practices and beliefs of Africa, and so too its art forms, including dance and music, for example ‘Séga’ music. 9 - Eriksen, TH. 1999. Tu dimunn pu vini kreol: The Mauritian Creole and the Concept of Creolization. University of Oslo: Department of Social Anthropology, Working Paper, WPTC-99-13. 59