1983 Mauritian general election

General elections were held in Mauritius on 21 August 1983. The result was a victory for an alliance of the Militant Socialist Movement, the Labour Party and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate, which between them won 46 seats. The Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won 32 seats, whilst the Labour Party secured nine seats and PMSD five. This alliance allowed Jugnauth to continue as Prime Minister while bringing Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Gaetan Duval back into the government after their severe defeat in the 1982 elections. Shortly after, Ramgoolam was appointed as Governor General, Duval became Deputy Prime Minister and Satcam Boolell (new leader of the labour Party) became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Voter turnout was 85%.

1983 Mauritian general election

21 August 1983 (1983-08-21)
All 62 directly elected seats in the National Assembly (and up to 8 BLS seats)
First party Second party   Leader Anerood Jugnauth Paul Berenger Party MSM–PTR–PMSD MMM Last election 4 seats 42 seats Seats won 46 22 Seat change 42 20 Popular vote 716,860 629,536 Percentage 51.90% 45.58%
Result by constituency. The colour shade shows the percentage of the elected candidate with the highest number of votes
Prime Minister before election Anerood Jugnauth MMM Subsequent Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth MSM

The Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) suffered after the departure of Anerood Jugnauth (who resigned as Leader of the MMM in 1983 to form the MSM) and the Mauritian Socialist Party (the MMM's coalition party since 1982) from the government. The party's leader, Paul Berenger, was not popularly elected in his own constituency. However, under the Best Loser System, he secured his seat through the representational system. Berenger was afterwards appointed as Leader of the Opposition, a post he held until 1987.

Electoral system

The voting system involved twenty constituencies on Mauritius, which each elected three members. Two seats were elected by residents of Rodrigues, and up to eight seats were filled by the "best losers".

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
						Cons	BL	Total	+/–
	Mauritian Militant Movement			629,528	45.58	19	3	22	–20
	MSM–PTR		Militant Socialist Movement	575,996	41.70	30	2	32	New
			Labour Party			7	2	9	+7
		Total				37	4	41	–
	Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate			140,864	10.20	4	1	5	–
	Rodrigues People's Organisation			15,981	1.16	2	0	2	0
	Lalit			3,116	0.23	0	0	0	New
	Independent Mauritian Front			2,637	0.19	0	0	0	New
	Progressive Labour Party			2,143	0.16	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian Democratic Movement			1,036	0.08	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian Grouping			735	0.05	0	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Mauritius			704	0.05	0	0	0	New
	Liberal Movement of the North			572	0.04	0	0	0	0
	Progressive Movement			426	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian People's Party			358	0.03	0	0	0	New
	Socialist Grouping of the South			241	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Mauritian Muslim Rights			156	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Independents			6,658	0.48	0	0	0	0
Total				1,381,151	100.00	62	8	70	+4
Valid votes				464,465	98.82
Invalid/blank votes				5,543	1.18
Total votes				470,008	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				551,708	85.19
Source: Electoral Commission, African Elections Database, Nohlen et al.

By constituency

Constituency		Elected MPs	Party
1	Grand River North West– Port Louis West	Mathieu Ange Laclé		MMM
		Edouard Jérôme Boulle		MMM
		Rajnee Dyalah		MMM
2	Port Louis South– Port Louis Central	Noël Lee Cheong Lem		MMM
		Khalid Tegally		MMM
		Subhas Chandra Lallah		MMM
		Kamil Ramoly (best loser)		Labour
3	Port Louis Maritime– Port Louis East	Bashir Khodabux		MMM
		Osman Gendoo		MMM
		Cassam Uteem		MMM
		Ismaël Nawoor (best loser)		Labour
4	Port Louis North– Montagne Longue	Shree Krisna Baligadoo		MMM
		José Arunasalom		MMM
		Dinesh Mundil		MMM
		Sylvio Michel (best loser)		MSM
		Georgy Candahoo (best loser)		MSM
5	Pamplemousses–Triolet	Beergoonath Ghurburrun		Labour
		Diwakur Bundhun		MSM
		Dinesh Ramjuttun		MSM
6	Grand Baie–Poudre D'Or	Armoogum Parsooraman		MSM
		Sattyanand Pelladoah		Labour
		Madan Dulloo		MSM
7	Piton–Riviere du Rempart	Dwarkanath Gungah		MSM
		Anerood Jugnauth		MSM
		Mahyendrah Utchanah		MSM
8	Quartier Militaire–Moka	Kadress Pillay		MSM
		Vinod Goodoory		MSM
		Rashidally Soobadar		MSM
9	Flacq–Bon Accueil	Dev Kim Currun		Labour
		Ajay Daby		MSM
		Iswurdeo Seetaram		MSM
10	Montagne Blanche– Grand River South East	Satcam Boolell		Labour
		Kader Bhayat		MSM
		Jagdishwar Goburdhun		MSM
11	Vieux Grand Port–Rose Belle	Anandisswar Choolun		MSM
		Nemchand Raj Molaye		MSM
		Radha Gungoosingh		MSM
12	Mahebourg–Plaine Magnien	Lutchmeeparsadsing Ramsahok		MSM
		Serge Thomas		Labour
		Suresh Chandra Poonith		MSM
13	Riviere des Anguilles–Souillac	Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo		MSM
		Ambah Chinien		MSM
		Harish Boodhoo		MSM
14	Savanne–Black River	Sheilabai Bappoo		MSM
		Kishore Deerpalsing		MSM
		Roger Gaëtan Gungurum		MSM
15	La Caverne–Phoenix	Uttam Jawaheer		MMM
		Sahid Maudarbocus		MMM
		Yousuf Mohamed		Labour
16	Vacoas–Floreal	Karl Offmann		MSM
		Babooram Mahadoo		MSM
		Rohit Beedassy		MSM
		France Canabady (best loser)		MMM
17	Curepipe–Midlands	Gaëtan Duval		PMSD
		Marc Hein		PMSD
		Kailash Purryag		PMSD
18	Belle Rose–Quatre Bornes	Michael Glover		Labour
		Anil Gayan		MSM
		Dev Virahsawmy		MSM
		Paul Bérenger (best loser)		MMM
19	Stanley–Rose Hill	Jayen Cuttaree		MMM
		Jean–Claude de L'Estrac		MMM
		Shirin Aumeeruddy-Cziffra		MMM
20	Beau Bassin–Petite Riviere	Jean Régis Finette		MMM
		Hervé Duval		PMSD
		Rajesh Bhagwan		MMM
		Joceline Minerve (best loser)		MMM
		Marie Ghiselaine Henry (best loser)		PMSD
21	Rodrigues	France Félicité		OPR
		Serge Clair		OPR
Source: Electoral Commission