National Assembly (Mauritius)

Mauritian National Assembly
10th National Assembly of Mauritius

Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Maya Hanoomanjee Since December 10, 2014
Prime Minister	Sir Anerood Jugnauth, MSM-PMSD-ML Since December 11, 2014
Leader of the Opposition	Paul Berenger, MMM Since December 11, 2014
Structure
Seats	62 plus 8 non-voting members

Political groups	Government MSM (34) PMSD (11) ML (7) OPR (2) Opposition parties MMM (7) MLP (4)
Elections
Last election	December 10, 2014
Meeting place

Parliament House, Port Louis
Website
mauritiusassembly.govmu.org

The National Assembly is Mauritius's unicameral parliament, which was called the Legislative Assembly until 1992, when the country became a republic. The Constitution of Mauritius provides for the Parliament of Mauritius to consist of the President and the National Assembly. The Parliament of Mauritius is modelled after the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, where Members of Parliament are voted in at regular general elections, on the basis of a first past the post system.

It consists of 70 members, 62 directly elected for five-year terms in multi-member constituencies and 8 additional members, known as "best losers", appointed by the Electoral Supervisory Commission to ensure that ethnic and religious minorities are equitably represented. The Government is primarily responsible to the National Assembly and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members.

Constitutional Role

The National assembly is supreme and determines the functioning of various constitutional institutions of the country.

President

The President and Vice-President are both elected by the assembly for a five-year term.

Government

The National Assembly is essential to determine which party/group forms the government and therefore the executive of the country. As per the constitution, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of the assembly. Thus, whenever the office of prime minister falls vacant, the President appoints the person who has the support of the House, or who is most likely to command the support of the House—normally the leader of the largest party in the assembly.

Opposition

The political party or alliance which has the second largest majority forms the Official Opposition and its leader is normally nominated by the President of the Republic as the Leader of the Opposition.

Composition

The Assembly is made up of 70 members, of whom 62 are directly elected in 21 constituencies. The island of Mauritius is divided into 20 constituencies returning three members each and that of Rodrigues is a single constituency returning two members. After a general election, the Electoral Supervisory Commission may nominate up to a maximum of 8 additional members in accordance with section 5 of the First Schedule of the Constitution with a view to correct any imbalance in community representation in Parliament. This system of nominating members is commonly called the best loser system.

The political party or party alliance which wins the majority of seats in Parliament forms the government and its leader usually becomes the Prime Minister. It is the Prime Minister who selects the members of the composition of the Cabinet from elected members of the Assembly, except for the Attorney General, who may not be an elected member of the Assembly.

List of political parties represented in the Assembly

A new assembly was elected on December 10, 2014 and a new coalition government was appointed with Sir Anerood Jugnauth as prime minister. The following political parties are represented in the assembly (based on the number of MPs):

Alliance	Party	Party Leader	Seats
Alliance Lepep - 53 seats	MSM	Pravind Jugnauth	33
	PMSD	Xavier Luc Duval	11
	Muvment Liberater	Ivan Collendaveloo	7
	OPR	Serge Clair (MP Christian Leopold serves as Leader in the assembly as Clair is currently Chief Commissioner of Rodrigues)	2
Parties with no alliance currently - 15 seats	MMM	Paul Berenger	7
	Mouvement Patriotique	Alan Ganoo	5
	Labour Party	Navin Ramgoolam (MP Shakeel Mohammed serves as Leader in the assembly as Ramgoolam was not elected to serve as MP)	4
	Total		69

Procedures

After a new assembly is elected, the President, by proclamation, may open the new session fixing the date and time of the sitting. The government message (replacing the speech of the throne) is read by the President. The Assembly normally sits on Tuesdays as from 11:30 AM when it is in session. The President acting on the advice of the prime minister may at any time adjourn, prorogue or dissolve the assembly.

Officials/Functions of the Assembly

The following positions/body have important functions in the assembly. They are as follows:

The Speaker - The main function of the Speaker is to ensure that the Standing Orders and Rules of the National Assembly are complied with. The Speaker interprets and enforces the Standing Orders and for the purpose of interpretation, recourse is often had to Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice, responds to Members' points of order and give rulings when necessary. The Speaker symbolizes the authority of Parliament.
The Deputy Speaker - The Deputy Speaker assists and acts as the Speaker when the latter is out of office.
The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) - The President acting on the advice of the prime minister may at any time adjourn, prorogue or dissolve the assembly.
The Leader of the Opposition - The office holder is usually to level criticism against the policy and administration of Government and to outline the alternative policies.
The Attorney General - The office holder is the national legal adviser to the government and the assembly.
The Government Chief Whip - Along with the Opposition whip, sets the agenda for the parliamentary work.
The Opposition Whip - Along with the Chief Whip, sets the agenda for the parliamentary work.
The Government Deputy Chief Whip - Replaces the Chief Whip when the latter is out of office.
The Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee
The Deputy Chairperson of Committees
The Clerk
The Mace Symbol of Authority
The Serjeant-At-Arms
The Secretariat
The Library
The Parliamentary Reporters

Mauritius

This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Mauritius
Constitution
Presidency President Ameenah Gurib Vice President Monique Ohsan Bellepeau
Government Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Luc Duval Cabinet
Legislature National Assembly Speaker: Maya Hanoomanjee Leader of the Opposition Paul Berenger
Elections Political parties Constituencies Recent elections Presidential: 2008 General: 2005 2010 2014
Outer islands Agaléga Rodrigues Saint Brandon (Cargados Carajos)
Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

2010 legislative election

**Summary of the 5 May 2010 National Assembly of Mauritius election results**
Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Additional seats	Total seats
Alliance de L'Avenir (PTR-PMSD-MSM) Labour Party (Parti Travailliste - PTR) Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM)	1,001,903	49.69	41	4	45
Alliance du Coeur (MMM-UN-MMSD) Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) Union Nationale (UN) Mouvement Mauricien Socialiste Démocrate (MMSD)	847,095	42.01	18	2	20
Front Solidarité Mauricien (FSM)	51,161	2.54	1	—	1
Mouvement Rodriguais (MR)	20,933	1.04	2	—	2
Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais (OPR)	18,815	0.93	—	1	1
Total (Turnout ~78%)	2,016,427	96.21	62	7	69
Source: electoral.gov.mu

2005 legislative election

**Summary of the 3 July 2005 National Assembly of Mauritius election results**
Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Additional seats	total seats
Alliance Sociale: Labour Party (Parti Travailliste - PTR) Parti Mauricien Xavier-Luc Duval (PMXD) Les Verts Fraternels Mouvement Républicain Mouvement Militant Socialiste Mauricien (MMSM)	948,766	48.8	38	4	42
Alliance MSM-MMM Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM) Parti Mauricien Social-Démocrate (PMSD)	829,460	42.6	22	2	24
Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais (OPR)	10,184	0.8	2	2	4
All others	156,538	8.0
Total (Turnout 81.5 %)	1,944,948	100.0	62	8	70
Source: Adam Carr

External links

Website

Legislatures in Africa

Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Western Sahara Zambia Zimbabwe

Dependencies, autonomies, other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom) Somaliland (Somalia) Zanzibar (Tanzania)

Italics indicate an unrecognised or partially recognised state.

National unicameral legislatures

Federal	Iraq Federated States of Micronesia Saint Kitts and Nevis United Arab Emirates Venezuela

Unitary	Albania Andorra Angola Armenia Azerbaijan Bangladesh Benin Botswana Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad China Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Denmark Djibouti Dominica East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Fiji Finland Gambia Georgia Ghana Greece Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Honduras Hungary Iceland Iran Israel Ivory Coast Kiribati North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritius Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Mozambique Nauru Nepal New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Peru Portugal Qatar Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Solomon Islands Sri Lanka Suriname Sweden Syria Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine Vanuatu Vatican City Vietnam Yemen Zambia

Dependent and other territories	Åland Islands Anguilla Aruba British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Falkland Islands Faroe Islands French Polynesia Gibraltar Greenland Guam Guernsey Hong Kong Jersey Macau Montserrat New Caledonia Pitcairn Islands Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint-Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Sint Maarten Tokelau Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Wales Wallis and Futuna

Non-UN states	Abkhazia Cook Islands Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Niue Northern Cyprus Palestine Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic South Ossetia Taiwan Transnistria

Historical	Scotland South African Republic

Related	Bicameralism List of legislatures by country

National bicameral legislatures National lower houses National upper houses

Coordinates: 20°09′47″S 57°30′12″E / 20.1630°S 57.5033°E / -20.1630; 57.5033

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