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The case for 3 MPs for Rodrigues

11 avril 2014, 10:24

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The publication of the White Paper on electoral reform by the Prime Minister’s Office is the occasion to make some observations for the correct representation of Rodrigues at the National level. Since independence, Rodrigues has been represented by two elected members at the National Level as a single constituency – Constituency No. 21.  This provision stemmed from the initial recommendations of the Banwell Commission. There is a today statistical and other argument which may justify the need to put Rodrigues at par with all the other 20 Constituencies of Mauritius by allocating 3 or even more seats to the island in the National Assembly.

 

Rodrigues’s voter population has increased in the past decade and the island is no longer 21st and last in terms of voter population. The island which is presently ranked 19th in terms of the size of its voter population as a single constituency fully deserves to have the same number of members as all the 20 constituencies of mainland Mauritius.

 

Throughout its political history, Rodrigues has not always been given due care and attention. The electoral reform process now engaged with the publication of the White Paper should fully take into consideration that the position of the constituency has significantly changed since the time of independence.

 

Brief history of political representation for Rodriguans

 

It is considered that the first attempt by the inhabitants of Rodrigues at trying to get politically represented dates back to 1915. In that year 79 Rodriguans petitioned H M the King of England to ask for representatives of Rodrigues to be nominated in the then legislative council. The petition highlighted the fact that Rodrigues had not been included in an electoral district in the 1885 Constitution unlike Black River District which had a smaller population than Rodrigues. No development occurred from this mainly because the Governor in Mauritius did not give any importance to the issue.

 

In 1957, following repetitive complaints from the inhabitants of Rodrigues, Jules Koenig, Leader of the PMSD, sent Robert Rey to Rodrigues to enquire. Other PMSD members such as Rey and Napal militated for Rodrigues to be represented at the level of the Legislative Council in vain.

 

In 1966, Clement Roussety, a Rodriguan who later on became one of the first elected member for Rodrigues, filed a case at the Supreme Court arguing that the general elections held in March 1959 and October 1963 were illegal because the 1958 Proclamation of the Governor which fixed the limits of the electoral boundaries had omitted Rodrigues whereas the Constitutional Order in Council, under which the Proclamation was made defined the “Colony” as including Mauritius and its dependencies.

 

Rodrigues had thus been illegally excluded from participating in the elections of 1959 and 1963. On the 21st December 1966, an Order in Council was made while the issue was still on at the Supreme Court. The Order in Council was in fact a unique colourable device ever used by the Crown to save the face of the colonial administration in regard to the exclusion of Rodrigues from the elections. Rodriguans had thus had to go to Court to get their due in terms of political representation which had been denied or ignored until the eve of independence. It was at the elections of 1967 that Rodriguans voted for the first time.

 

It is to be noted also that riots broke out on 12th March 1968 in Port Mathurin, with the Rodriguans having voted at 96% for the PMSD and for a hypothetical form of “association” with Great Britain, preventing by force the hoisting of the new Mauritian flag. It was only in the evening of 12 March 1969 and again after riots being dispersed with tear gas, that the Mauritian flag was finally hoisted on Rodrigues soil.

 

The proposals made by the Banwell Commission for Rodrigues

 

The background and justification for the constitutional provision that Rodrigues, as a single constituency, should elect only two members to the National Assembly can be traced back to the 1965 Constitutional Conference. The last part of the terms of reference of the Commission which was to be appointed to make recommendations on the future electoral system of Mauritius and its dependencies mentions “provision should be made for the representation of Rodrigues”[1].

 

The newly appointed Commission, the “Banwell Commission” arrived in Mauritius in early January 1966 and it was deemed that “it was essential that one of its members should visit Rodrigues and obtain the views of the inhabitants”[2]. One of its members, Professor Colin Reys, was immediately sent to Rodrigues by a special trip of the MV Mauritius and met with what can be qualified today as being irrelevant proposals – Rodrigues at that time didn’t have people who were capable of making sound and straightforward proposals within its political men. In his book “Sir Ben… Raconte Rodrigues”, Benjamin Gontran (Sir Ben) gives an account of the meeting, at which he was present as an observer, which was held with Professor Colin Reys.

 

It can be read that those who came to depone in front of Professor Colin Reys missed the opportunity of expressing clearly their proposals on political representation for Rodrigues but instead focused on petty electoral issues such as transport on polling day!

 

The recommendation of the Banwell Commission for Rodrigues to have only two elected Members in the Legislative Assembly was based on the fact that the population of Rodrigues was relatively small at that time compared to the 20 other constituencies in Mauritius. The Commission recommended that there should be 20 constituencies with 3 members each for Mauritius, and that “on a comparable ratio of members to population Rodrigues should have two”.[3]

 

It is on this basis that the recommendations of the Banwell Commission were adopted and its provisions incorporated in the new constitution which came into operation with independence. Rodrigues has since then been electing two MP’s in the General Elections. However as from 1995, owing to some other (happy) “dysfunction” of the now famous “Best Looser System” and to the relatively “close” vote performances of the then two main political parties, the MR and the OPR, Rodrigues got two additional MPs as “Best Losers”. We could have had two “Best Losers” again instead of one in the General Elections of 2010 if candidate S. Sooprayen (presently Chairperson of the Regional Assembly) had declared himself as a member of the “General Population”. The fact that more than one party from Rodrigues has been represented in the National Assembly since 1995 definitely enhanced the level of the political debate and interest in the proceedings of the National Assembly here in the population of Rodrigues.

 

Why Rodrigues should have the same number of MPs as any other constituency in Mauritius

 

The test to decide about the number of elected members to be attributed to Rodrigues by the Banwell Commission was the “ratio of population to members”. This ratio which was relatively low in 1967 has now increased significantly to the point that since the General Elections of 2005 Rodrigues’s voter population has considerably increased and is higher than at least two smaller constituencies in Mauritius. In fact analysis of the electoral data shows that even in 1967 with two members, Rodrigues had a ratio of representation of 3,531 voters for one member whereas Constituency No 3. Port Louis Maritime and Port Louis East had a ratio of 3,124 for one member. Constituency No. 2 Port Louis South and Port Louis Central had a ratio of 3,516 for each of its three members.

 

Three main arguments may be put forward in support of the claim for Rodrigues for at least three elected members at National Assembly level.

 

The statistical argument

 

From the point of view of electoral statistics, it is clear that since a decade Rodrigues is no longer the smallest constituency in terms of number of voters. Since 2005 Rodrigues has ranked 20th and is presently 19th. Two constituencies namely Constituency No. 2 Port Louis South and Port Louis Central and Constituency No 3. Port Louis Maritime and Port Louis East are now smaller constituencies in terms of number of voters. In 2005, for the first time in a General Election the voter population of Rodrigues exceeded that of a mainland constituency. In 2005 Rodrigues voter population stood at 23,856 while that of constituency Constituency No 3. Port Louis Maritime and Port Louis East stood at 22,145. By the next General Election in 2010, Rodrigues with 26,823 voters was ranking 19th in terms of voter population, exceeding both Constituency No. 2 Port Louis South and Port Louis Central (24,463 voters) and Constituency No 3 Port Louis Maritime and Port Louis East (22,428). These trends in the evolution of voter population for these three constituencies have been confirmed in 2012 and onwards. It is thus a fact that Rodrigues voter population is not only bigger but is also relatively increasing more rapidly than at least two constituencies in mainland Mauritius.

 

In terms of ranking, Rodrigues is now 19th in terms of its voter population and the trend is sustained. Rodrigues has ceased to the 21st and smallest constituency since the year 2005, increasing its ranking gradually.

 

Table 1 : Ranking of constituencies in terms of number of voters 1967-2012

 

In terms of the representation ratio it can be argued that as early as 1967 itself, Rodrigues has had a greater ratio of voters to number of MPs than constituencies No 2 and No. 3. In 1967 (using data for valid votes in 1967) the Voter to MP ratio was 3,531 for Rodrigues (with 2 elected members), greater than that of Constituency No 3 Port Louis Maritime and Port Louis East with 3,124 voters as shown in Table 3 below. In 2012 an MP from Rodrigues was representing on average 13,825 voters whereas an MP from Constituencies No 2 and No 3 was representing 8,320 and 7,611 voters respectively. The ratio for Rodrigues was even greater than that of Constituency No 1 with 13,775 voters, Constituency No 11 with 13,592 voters, Constituency No 12 with 12,372 voters, Constituency No 13 with 11,325 voters and Constituency No 19 with 13,222 voters. Rodrigues ranked in fact 14th in terms of voter to number of elected MP ratio in 2012. The average ratio of representation for all the 21 constituencies was 14,553. 12 out of the 21 constituencies fell below this average.

 

Table 2: Voter Ratio (No of voters : no of MPs) 1967-2012

 

 

 

Table 3 below is an estimate of the ratios for Constituencies 2, 3 and 21 (Rodrigues) with the latter hypothetically allocated 3 members. We can see that as from 2005 it became clear that it was justified from a statistical point of view for Rodrigues to have 3 elected members.

 

Table 3: Voter Ratio (No of voters : no of MPs) 1967-2012 with 3 MPs for Rodrigues

 

 

 

The territorial argument

 

Which constituency in Mauritius has its own port, airport, water, electric and telephone networks separate from the national one? Which single constituency in Mauritius contribute 25% of the EEZ of the nation? Rodrigues in itself, though a small island, is a “country” and deserves today to be appropriately considered given its significance as a territory of the Republic of Mauritius.

 

The equity argument

 

Here it can be argued that each constituency should have an equal number of elected members irrespective of its present size or voter population.

 

Some proposals

 

It is now fully justified that Rodrigues should have the same number of elected members as any other constituency in Mauritius. It could be interesting to note that with the eventual burial of the “Best Loser” system and the introduction of a form of proportional representation that Rodrigues may be disadvantaged as Rodriguan political parties are regional parties representing a comparatively low percentage of the total national vote. It would be impossible for a Rodrigues party to qualify for the widely accepted threshold of 10% to participate in the proportional apportionment of seats at the national level.

The eventual “third” seat which is being requested for Rodrigues could be allocated on a form of proportional basis with parties obtaining at least 10% of the votes in the constituency of Rodrigues qualifying for consideration for the allocation of the third seat. An appropriate formula can be easily worked out for that purpose after consultation with all local political parties. We already have had some, to my point of view, positive experience of the proportional system of representation for the Rodrigues Regional Assembly Elections. The advantage would be to allow a losing party with a relatively high score to have the voice of some ‘opposition” from Rodrigues brought to the National Assembly. The first step is to have the principle for this third member to be accepted.

 

johnsonroussety@yahoo.com

 

Data sources: website of the Electoral Commissioner.

References: The Island of Rodrigues, Alfred North Coombes.

Sir Ben Raconte Rodrigues, Benjamin Gontran.



[1] Page 22 of the White Paper “Modermnising the Electoral System” & Report of the Banwell Commission.

[2] Page 290 – The Island of Rodrigues  - Alfred North-Coombes.

[3] The Island of Rodrigues – Alfred North Coombes - page 290