REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS Official name: Republic of Mauritius Location: Indian Ocean International organisations: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, The African Union, The Commonwealth of Nations, The Non-Aligned Movement, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation. Borders: None Coastline: Indian Ocean Land area: 2,040 Km2 Population: 1,200,000 Ethnicity: More than two-thirds of the population are of Indian descent, known as Indo-Mauritian. About a quarter are of mixed French and African descent, known as Creoles. There are small Chinese and European (mainly French) minorities.

Languages: English is the official language and the language of business and the media. A French Creole is widely spoken, and Hindi and Urdu are spoken in the Indo-Mauritian community.
Religion: Hindu 52%, Catholic Christian 28%, Muslim 17%, other 3.1%
Form of government: Parliamentary democratic republic. Mauritius is divided into nine districts and has three dependencies (small Indian Ocean islands).
Capital: Port Louis
Constitution: The Constitution of the Republic of Mauritius came into effect on 12 March 1968.
Head of state: The President, chosen by the legislature for a five-year term. The President's functions are largely ceremonial. President Sir Anerood Jugnauth took office on 7 October 2003.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is accountable to it.
Legislature: Mauritius has a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, which has 66 members serving five-year terms. Of these, 62 are elected from non-proportional multi-member constituencies. Four are appointed by the Election Commission from the losing political parties.
Electoral authority: The Electoral Supervisory Commission administers national elections.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 2

Political history

Mauritius was uninhabited when it was discovered by the Portuguese in 1505, and remained so until 1598, when the Dutch took possession and named it after the Stadtholder Maurice of Nassau. The Dutch abandoned the island in 1707 and in 1715 it was taken over by the French, who imported African slaves to work the plantations. In 1810 it was captured by the British, who left the French settlers unmolested but abolished slavery and imported Indian workers in the place of African slaves. Representative institutions began with a partly-elected government council in 1886, and there was a fully-elected Legislative Assembly from 1947. Internal self-government was granted in 1961 and full independence followed in March 1968.

Mauritian politics were dominated for many years by the moderate Mauritian Labor Party of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the first Prime Minister. But in 1982, the left-wing Mauritius Militant Movement came to power under Anerood Jugnauth. The coalition split in 1983, with Jugnauth forming the Mauritian Socialist Movement. Under Jugnauth Mauritius became a republic in 1992. In 1995 the MLP returned to power under Navin Ramgoolam, but at the next elections in 2000, Jugnauth was returned to power. In 2003 he retired and became President, being succeeded as Prime Minister by Paul Bérenger, the first Creole Prime Minister.