HIGHLIGHTS OF CABINET MEETING – FRIDAY 14 MARCH 2025 

The Cabinet met today under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Dr the Hon. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, G.C.S.K., F.R.C.P. The highlights of the deliberations are as follows:

Cabinet has agreed to the introduction of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill into the National Assembly. The object of the Bill would be to amend the Representation of the People Act so as to provide for the compilation of a supplementary register of electors for the forthcoming Municipal City Council and Municipal Town Council elections, or for such other election as may be prescribed.

The Representation of the People Act currently provides that a person cannot be registered as an elector in any year unless he has attained or will have attained the age of 18 on 15 August in that year. The register of electors compiled in a year comes into force on 16 August in that year and remains in force until the register next compiled comes into force. As the law currently stands, the name of a person who attained the age of 18 after 15 August would only be entered in the register of electors during the next registration exercise. That person would not be able to vote although he had already attained the age of 18 and be a resident and domiciled in Mauritius.

Cabinet noted that, despite the efforts of the Office of the Electoral Commissioner to register electors, some 1,941 persons, out of whom 1,205 resided in the City of Port Louis and the towns, could not vote during the last National Assembly Elections since their names did not appear on the register of electors.

The amendments would allow qualified unregistered persons to submit their claims to be registered and have their names included in a supplementary register for them to be able to vote for the forthcoming Municipal City Council and Municipal Town Councils elections, and stand as candidate.

The supplementary register of electors would be an addendum to the register of electors which came into force on 15 August 2024 and would be compiled immediately after the issue of writs of elections. This would ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to engage in the electoral process, and that no one is deprived of his constitutional right to vote. A person would therefore be entitled to have his name entered in a supplementary register where:

(a) his name was not entered on the register of electors;

(b) he fulfils the criteria to be registered as an elector; and

(c) he has attained or would have attained the age of 18 prior to nomination day.

However, a person whose name was already entered in a register of electors for an electoral area would not be entitled to have his name entered in a supplementary register of electors. The supplementary register would come into force on the eve of the nomination day.