| Prime Minister of Mauritius |
|
|---|---|
| Residence | Clarisse House |
| Term length | Five years, renewable once |
| Inaugural holder | Seewoosagur Ramgoolam |
| Formation | 12 March 1968 |
| Website | [1] |
| Mauritius |
This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
Government
Parliament
The Opposition
Elections
Political Parties
|
|
Other countries · Atlas |
The Prime Minister of Mauritius is the head of government of the country.He presides over the Cabinet of Ministers which advises the President of the Republic and is collectively responsible to the National Assembly for any advice given and for all action done by or under the authority of any Minister in the execution of his office[1]. The prime minister is appointed by the president. He or she holds the second most senior position in the country, second only to the president. The prime minister heads of the cabinet. He or she is elected by the members of parliament being the leader of the political party holding the majority seats in the house after general elections which are held every five years. The person who holds the record for longest time spent as prime minister is Anerood Jugnauth who was prime minister for sixteen years in four terms. The prime minister is the highest power of the state.The Ministry of Defense & Home Affairs is under aegis of the Prime Minister office since 2004[2].
Contents |
The Office of the Prime Minister of Mauritius was formed in 1968 on the 12th March. Prior to that date, it was called Chief Minister. The Queen Elizabeth 2 resigned over executive power in Mauritius but remained as the Head of State till 1992. The Father of the Nation Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was the main protagonist to fight peacefully for the independence of the country.
He was chief Minister in early 1960s and went against the authoritarian government of England. The agreement which was settled was that The Queen would remain head of state and sovereign. The election in 1968 brought to a victory of Dr.Ramgoolam who became Prime Minister on the same date. He remained there till 1976 when second elections took place and Sir Anerood Jugnauth made his appearance in high politics and became Leader of Opposition in the same year. He remained there until 1982 when with both pressures of the opposition and Harish Boodhoo's PSM party, he had to announce election again where in 1982 the third elections occurred where he lost heavily to Sir Anerood Jugnauth winning all seats in parliament.
Sir Jugnauth became second Prime Minister succeeding to Dr. Ramgoolam. He was with 2 other leaders, Paul Berenger & Harish Boodhoo where one was Deputy Prime Minister and the other Minister of Finance. The team broke up in 1983 and Boodhoo and Berenger announced their break up in their Party. Due to this, once again elections occurred in 1983 and once again Sir Anerood Jugnauth was reappointed as Prime Minister. He served until 1995 where he was defeated by Navin Ramgoolam, the son of Dr.Ramgoolam. Since then, with the new constitution of 1992, the position of Prime Minister is in terms of 5 years and not more. Since then, each 5 years elections takes place and a new Prime Minister is elected.
In 2000, after Navin Ramgoolam was defeated in general elections, Sir Anerood Jugnauth became Prime Minister for the 4th time making him become the longest running Prime Minister of the Country.
In 2003 nearly to his 3rd year as Prime Minister, his health deteriorated.He thus announced his retirement because of age problems as he was already over 73 years. In middle of his term, he finally resigned on 30 September 2003.
Due to this, elections were anticipated in 2003 itself but he announced just before his resignation that according to constitution, elections should happen every 5 years and that his party would not accept to re stand for election. The Parliament voted and on the recommendation of the departing Prime Minister, Paul Berenger became PM on the 1st October 2003. He was the first & only non Hindu to become Prime Minister.
Another fact is that the Prime Minister insignia is the same as the President but with different wordings.
The Prime Minister resides at the Clarisse House during his term in office. The Clarisse House is a very beautiful and glamorous house found just after St Paul in Vacoas-Phoenix. He resides there as well as follows his official meetings there when most of the time, the Honorable guests are received by the President at The State House.
The prime minister is the second highest paid civil servant, after the president. The office obtained a salary of 120,000 Mauritian rupees (4,000 United States dollars) per month until new budget act which resulted in an increase of 80,000 rupees (2,600 dollars) totalling a salary of 200,000 rupees (6,600 dollars) per month and thus 2,400,000 rupees (80,000 dollars) yearly.
|
|||||||