The Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

History

The Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) party was founded by Sookdeo Bissoondoyal on 13 April 1958. Since the 1930s the movement

Jan Andolan Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

had been founded by Sookdeo's elder brother

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 refer ...

in order to educate the rural mass and was instrumental in the record high participation of working-class people at the 1948 Legislative Council general elections which were ground-breaking for being the first ever application of the principle of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

in Mauritius. To fully participate in the Jan Andolan's struggle for social justice Sookdeo Bissoondoyal resigned from the Civil Service in 1946 after 22 years of service as a school teacher. With the advent of the new political party IFB officially progressed the Jan Andolan's mission on the political front. IFB was an important partner in the coalition of 3 major parties that formed part of the Independence Party (Mauritius) which won the 1967 General Elections and paved the way to official independence from British colonial rule in 1968. Unpaid volunteers supported the IFB, in a manner similar to its predecessor the

movement. It also received the support of Dr

Charles Edgar Millien Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

, who was also advocating for democracy through his newspaper ''L'Oeuvre''. In 1946 a public meeting held by Guy Rozemont and Sookdeo Bissoondoyal was attended by a massive crowd in

Port Louis Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's e ...

at the Jardin de la Compagnie. By 1947 the new Constitution had been enacted which led to the first exercise of universal suffrage in 1948. During the electoral campaign of 1948 Sookdeo Bissoondoyal canvassed the Port Louis electorate to vote for Guy Rozemont and

who were voted to the Legislative Council.

Electoral success

Prior to the formation of IFB its founder Sookdeo Bissoondoyal had been elected to Legislative Council in 1948 and 1953. At the 1959 elections the IFB secured 6 out of 40 seats in the Legislative Council. At the 1963 elections the IFB secured 7 out of 40 seats in the Legislative Council. Leading up to the 1967 elections the IFB joined the pro-independence coalition which became known as Independence Party and IFB secured 11 out of 62 seats in the Legislative Council. Although the IFB was part of the ruling 1967 coalition, by 1969 it had become an opposition party, alongside Union Démocratique Mauricienne (UDM) in the Legislative Assembly following disagreements between leaders of Labour Party, CAM and IFB. The death of IFB member of parliament and former

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Lall Jugnauth in August 1970 triggered the 21 September 1970 by-elections in Constituency No.5 (Pamplemousses-Triolet) which resulted in the election of the first ever MMM parliamentarian

Dev Virahsawmy Dev Virahsawmy (born 1942 in Quartier-Militaire, Mauritius), is a politician, playwright, poet and advocate of the Mauritian Creole language. Though he writes easily in both French and English, Virahsawmy is most renowned for his efforts to popul ...

. IFB's leader Sookdeo Bissoondoyal was Opposition Leader from 1971 to 1976. During the campaign leading to the 1976 elections the IFB had opted to stay out of the Independence Party where Labour Party and CAM remained. Soon after the December 1976 elections the PMSD joined the IP coalition to remain in power until 1982, although the MMM had won most of the seats without forming any alliances with rival parties. However no IFB candidate was elected at the

1976 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1976. Africa * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1976 Malawian general election * 1976 Mauritanian presidential election * 1976 Tiris El Gharbiya parliamentary by-election (Mauritan ...

References

{{Mauritian political parties Political parties in Mauritius Socialist parties in Mauritius Political parties established in 1958 1958 establishments in Mauritius