Anishta Babooram, coordinator of Nou Lavwa Nou Dignite, speaks to Weekly about the protests held last weekend and further ones planned by the platform against the alleged irregularities in the recent election. She talks about the allegations of fraud and impropriety and explains how the protests are a call for a new election.

This week, we saw a number of protests sprouting up throughout the island. What is the aim of these protests?
We protested and we will continue to protest because we do not see this election as free or fair. Today, a third ballot paper was found in nature. What is happening is not good for democracy, and we are not in a democracy anymore.

Some people outside are saying this is hysteria more than anything.
No, this is not hysteria. There are facts and there is evidence of irregularities that have never occurred before.

You talk a lot about facts and evidence, but from the outside we still don’t understand what those facts are. What exactly was abnormal about this election?
The norm in any democracy is that the people get to choose their government, but in the recent election, many people did not get the opportunity to choose their government.

Less than 7,000 people, or 0.7 per cent of the population is the figure given by the electoral commissioner. Is that such a big deal?
This is the official figure of those who officially complained to the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC). In a radio interview, the electoral commissioner admitted that there were many more and he could not come up with a figure. So many of us were not given the right to choose our own government. A government cannot elect itself.

Whose fault is this? The ESC had to work in very difficult circumstances…
The ESC had the responsibility to say no to the prime minister to hold a general election in these circumstances, in the middle of exams as 3,000 officers who were supposed to work during this election were not able to. Instead, it had to work with people who had no experience in working for general elections. I believe this is one of the things that may have contributed to this election being not free or fair. Officers were not trained and some officers were even asking people to vote for the Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM).

This is just an allegation. Give us something more concrete
It’s more than an allegation. In some constituencies, in No.1 for instance, an officer had to leave the school because Veda Baloomoody (Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) member – Ed) complained about the fact that he was canvassing votes for the MSM from within the voting centre!

You raised two issues. The first issue is the fact that you said there was a much higher number of people who did not vote, more than those who did not complain. And then you are talking about canvassers within the schools…These are different issues, aren’t they?
Not really. I have seen the canvassers doing irregular things. The registration of voters may also be irregular and bizarre. Some people were deregistered; others did register but their names were wrongly written. How can that happen unless the list has been manipulated? It’s something to ponder upon, because you cannot make so many mistakes.

Mistakes are not proof of fraud, are they?
The fact remains that more people than ever before could not vote. According to the electoral commissioner himself, more than two-and-a-half-times more people complained to the commission and he added that we will never know the total number of people who could not vote. That means that we have been robbed of our right to vote. So, how can the government rule without a mandate?

They do have a mandate from those who registered and made sure their names were on the electoral lists, don’t they?
How many more were deprived of the right to vote? Many people were stunned when they went to the school and instead of their real name, found another name or the name of their dead parents that had voted in their place. I don’t think they are mandated to be there.

There are other allegations like ballots being neat and tidy and ballot papers going out for a walk. The question is, what were the other political parties agents doing when all these supposed wrongdoings were going on?
I don’t think this was happening in front of the agents. When you want to manipulate you’re not going to do it in front of the agents. For example, normally during elections, the Special Mobile Forces (SMF) escort ballot boxes to the guard rooms. This time, the ballot boxes were carried in vans, so agents did not know and they did not immediately follow them. They realised what happened only when they saw candidates following those vans. How do we know what was inside those vans? Who were the drivers? Were there ballot boxes already in there? Who could know?

Is this the first time this has happened?
I believe it is the first time.

Isn’t this whole saga partly due to social media as the electoral commissioner said?
I don’t think that’s true. I think social media has helped us open the eyes of other people. It did not invent the manipulation and foul play. Social media is helping us mobilise people to join us in protesting against this.

The protests you have organised are isolated events here and there. How will that help?
They are not isolated. Never in the history of Mauritius have we seen people protesting in all 20 constituencies. This has happened for the first time in history. This shows people won’t accept what has happened. The government may be there, but we don’t accept it as a legitimate one. The constitution is the supreme law of the land. If that is not respected and the rule of law is not there, how can we say we are in a democratic country? That is not the case.

Aren’t your supporters mainly from the Labour Party and the MMM?
They come from all political backgrounds and many are apolitical. That too is happening for the first time.

What is the next move?
The next move is the protest on Saturday [30 November – Ed]. This protest will get people to come out on the streets. People are angry and stunned. They will come out to express that anger. The protest will act as catharsis.  

This is not like, say, marching against violence against women, where being seen there enhances your image. This is something controversial: when you protest, you are exposing yourself to some risks. Do you expect a large turnout?
For the first meeting we had, I was very pleasantly surprised. I did not expect to see so many people. If these people come forward again and bring more people, that would be a great success.

You yourself were a member of the Labour Party and rebelled against it when you were not given a ticket. Why fight for it now? Z
I did not rebel. I did not leave the Labour Party. There were offers from other parties, but I am Labour by conviction, so I will never leave. Besides, right now, what I am fighting for is my country. This fight has nothing to do with the Labour Party. In fact, I am one of those rare people who are still fighting. Even if I was not a candidate, I can still serve my country as a patriot.

What is the aim of all this? You are not going to change the results of the election, are you?
It is not just the results of the election we are fighting for. This country needs a revolution and the system needs to be changed. There are so many things that need to be reformed. I have been a victim of this myself. Everything is politicised.

Is this something new? When it was playing in your favour, was it fine?
No matter who practised it, it was wrong. But in all honesty, we had never seen nepotism on such a large scale. What we have now is one royal family and if you are not connected to them, you have no rights. No right to eat, no right to live and no right to be.

Is this analogy with the royal family not exaggerated?
No. In fact, we have a mafia.  How do drugs still come in? The importation of heroin on such a large scale can only happen if drug traffickers have protection from above! What happened to the Lam Shang Leen report? It got stuck in a drawer?

The Lam Shang Leen report did not say that the MSM was involved in drug trafficking...
Which party do all those who were named in the report belong to? What about the metro express train bringing along drugs with it drugs and making it through customs, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and every other control. I was shocked by this. These are facts.

At the same time as you are organising protests, the opposition parties are lodging petitions against the results. Do you think something will come out of that?
I don’t know what will come out of it but it is an indication that something has gone wrong somewhere. For our platform, not allowing people to vote is enough to call for a new general election. How come people from the Commonwealth were allowed to vote, but we were deprived of this right. This is unfair!

Are you contemplating legal action?
Yes, we are lodging a separate legal action. Mr. Narsinghen is working on that. We will have more details when it is lodged on Wednesday.

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