Abdool Wahab Foondun was a

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; ; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a melting pot of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious peoples. Mauritian is made up ...

politician who was active both before and after the

Independence of Mauritius Mauritius gained independence from the United Kingdom on 12 March 1968. The independence process was the culmination of a long struggle involving a number of political parties. Most notably the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP) and the Parti Mauricie ...

Political career

Foondun collaborated with

Basdeo Bissoondoyal Basdeo Bissoondoyal (15 April 1906 – 23 June 1991) was a Mauritian social worker, educator and writer who played an important role in the pre-Independence politics and independence movement on the island of Mauritius. He is also sometimes ref ...

in Jan Andolan's campaign leading to the 1948 elections by promoting the study of Urdu by Mauritian Muslims. This was the first time in Mauritian history that the mass of Indo-Mauritians was allowed to vote for their representatives at the Legislative Council under the revised Constitution, as long as they could write their names in English, French or an oriental language. At the 1959 general elections the island was divided in 40 constituencies, compared to the 5 districts during the previous 1948 and 1953 elections, and 5 muslim candidates (A.G. Issac, S.Y. Ramjan, A.R. Mohamed, A. Dahal and A.H. Osman) were elected to the Legislative Council. Four years after 1959, at the 1963 general elections Abdool Wahab Foondun, the candidate of

Sookdeo Bissoondoyal Sookdeo Bissoondoyal (25 December 1908 – 18 August 1977) was a Mauritian politician and one of the leading figures in the nation's independence movement. Early life Sookdeo Bissoondoyal was born in Tyack, Rivière des Anguilles in 1908. He h ...

Independent Forward Bloc The Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) was a political party in Mauritius. History The Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) party was founded by Sookdeo Bissoondoyal on 13 April 1958. In the 1930s, the movement Jan Andolan had been founded by Sookdeo's ...

(IFB), was one of five Indo-Mauritian Muslims who were elected, the other 4 Muslims being Haroon Aubdool, Razack Mohamed, Yousouf Ramjan and Osman. Foondun's victory in the Hindu-majority constituency of Bon-Accueil was even more surprising as he defeated Labour Party's candidate

Rabindrah Ghurburrun Sir Rabindrah Ghurburrun, GOSK (1928–2008) was the first vice president of Mauritius from 1992 to 1997. He started his political career as a member of the Mauritius Labour Party. However, he was appointed by the Mauritian Militant Movement-Mil ...

. At the 1965 Constitutional Conference held in London Abdool Wahab Foondun's election in a predominantly Hindu constituency was paramount to prevent the imposition of divisive separate communal electoral rolls in Mauritius. At the 1967 general elections the number of constituencies was halved to only 20 and Abdool Wahab Foondun, candidate of the IFB within the Independence Party (IFB-Labour-CAM alliance), was one of the 10 Indo-Mauritian Muslims to be elected to the Legislative Council. He came out third behind

Satcam Boolell Sir Satcam Boolell GCSK QC (11 September 1920 – 23 March 2006) was a Mauritian politician who served as member of the Legislative Assembly in Mauritius. He died on 23 March 2006, in Curepipe. He was also known as "Somduth" by his peers and f ...

and

Kher Jagatsingh Keharsingh Jagatsingh, more commonly known as Sir Kher Jagatsingh (23 July 1931 – 19 July 1985) was a Mauritian politician and Labour Party (Mauritius) minister. Early life Keharsingh was born in India, the 14th child of a family of 16 childr ...

in Constituency No. 10 - Montagne Blanche and Grand River South East. Nine years after his electoral victory Abdool Wahab Foondun of the IFB was defeated at the 1976 general elections by a new generation of activists of the newly formed MMM, he secured only 168 votes (1.087% of votes) and came out in 13th position in Constituency No. 2 - Port Louis South and Port Louis Central. In this constituency

Kader Bhayat Abdool Kader Bhayat, commonly known as Kader Bhayat (1936-2012), was a Mauritian lawyer, politician and former minister. He died on 15 November 2012 at the age of 76. Early life and career In 1936 Kader Bhayat was born in a wealthy family which ...

, Noel Lee Cheong Lem and Rajiv Servansingh were elected to the Legislative Assembly after securing over 42% of votes each. His brother Abdool Raschid Foondun, a candidate of the defunct Mauritius Muslim Democratic League in Constituency No. 3, was also defeated by the MMM and secured only 0.69% of votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foondun, Abdool Wahab Members of the National Assembly (Mauritius) Mauritian Muslims Mauritian politicians of Indian descent Independent Forward Bloc politicians