Labour Party (Mauritius)

Labour Party
Leader	Navin Ramgoolam
Spokesperson	Nita Deerpalsing
Founder	Dr Maurice Cure
Founded	1936
Headquarters	7 Ave Guy Rosemont, Port Louis
Newspaper	None
Ideology	Social democracy, Democratic socialism
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International
National Assembly of Mauritius
Website
http://www.labourparty.mu/
Politics of Mauritius Political parties Elections

The Labour Party (French: Parti Travailliste) is a political party in Mauritius.

The Mauritian Labour Party was structured in 1936 to model the British Labour Party and has similar socialist goals. Among these goals were the initial resolutions to obtain suffrage for the working class, representation in the Legislative Council, the organization of a Department of Labour, the prohibition of capitalist exploitation of sugar plantations, as well as the overall implementation of socialist values among Mauritian government agencies.

The Labour Party was instrumental in bringing about the independence of the state of Mauritius from the British government in 1968 and has worked to build a comprehensive welfare state. Mauritius now guarantees benefits such as education, healthcare, widows' pensions, paid sick leave, paid holidays, etc.

The modern goals of the Mauritian Labour Party are to guarantee equal opportunity to all citizens regardless of race, religion, sex, or class and to secure a healthy and clean environment for future generations. The founders of the Mauritian Labour Party are Dr. Maurice Cure, Jean Prosper, Mamode Assenjee, Dr. Hassenjee Jeetoo, Barthelemy Ohsan, Samuel Barbe, Emmanuel Anquetil, Godefroy Moutia, and Pandit Sahadeo, among others.

It competes with the Militant Socialist Movement for the Hindu vote.^[1]

In the 2000 legislative elections, the party was part of a coalition with the Mauritian Party of Xavier-Luc Duval, which won 36.6% of the popular vote and eight out of 70 seats. Out of 38 seats in National Assembly, the Labour Party counts 25 seats held by Indians, including the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

In the 2005 elections, the party was part of the Alliance Sociale, which won 42 out of 70 seats.

In the general election of 2010, the party formed the majority of L'Alliance de L'Avenir, which regrouped the Mauritius Labour Party, the MSM and the PMSD. The Alliance de L'Avenir won the general election with 41 seats against 18 seats for L'Alliance du Coeur, which was led by the MMM and 1 seat by the FSM.However, on 6 August 2011 the Alliance broke. As a result, only the Mauritius Labour Party, the PMSD and MR formed the government.

References

1. ^ Stephen May, Tariq Modood, Judith Squires, Ethnicity, nationalism, and minority rights, p. 80.

See also

• Official web site