The Militant Socialist Movement/Mauritian Militant Movement (MSM/MMM) is coalition party that formed the government of the
Republic of Mauritius from September 2000 to July 2005. The coalition has been reformed in April 2012 after an electoral agreement between the
Militant Socialist Movement
The Militant Socialist Movement (french: Mouvement Socialiste Militant; abbreviated MSM) is a centre-left political party in Mauritius. It is the largest single political party in the National Assembly of Mauritius, winning 42 of the 69 seats in ...
(MSM) and
Mauritian Militant Movement
The Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) ( en, Mauritian Militant Movement) is a left-wing socialist political party in Mauritius. The party was formed by a group of students in the late 1960s. The MMM advocates what it sees as a "fairer" society, ...
(MMM) was made with Sir
Anerood Jugnauth as leader. The agreements remain the same, 30 seats for the MMM and 30 seats for the MSM. It has also been conveyed that SAJ would be prime minister for 3 years and Paul Berenger would take over for the rest of the parliamentary term if the coalition wins the next general elections. It has also been agreed that
Pravind Jugnauth
Pravind Kumar Jugnauth (born 25 December 1961) is a Mauritian politician serving as the prime minister of Mauritius since January 2017. Jugnauth has been the leader of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) party since April 2003. He has held a n ...
who is leader of the MSM will not be in the Front Bench of the coalition in an eventual government of the MSM/MMM. This is because he has been provisionally charged with using office for gratification by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. He will therefore seat as a back-bencher until he is dismissed from all accusations.
The coalition which was firstly made in 2000, was known as the "Medpoint Deal" and was formed by former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Sir Anerood Jugnauth on 14 August 2000. It was the most famous political alliance that Mauritian Politics ever had. It was the first time that the country was experiencing a social change,
Paul Berenger would become Prime Minister out of this deal and would be the first-non Hindu to hold such powerful post.
The deal was to join the two leaders of the two parties. The MSM leader Sir Anerood Jugnauth & MMM leader
Paul Berenger. As a misconception and with a battle for the leadership of the MSM after Sir Anerood retired, Pravind Jugnauth and
Ashok Jugnauth
Ashock Kumar Jugnauth, also known as Ashok Jugnauth (born आशोक कुमार जग्नोथ on 3 January 1951) is a Mauritian politician and former Member of Parliament.
Early life and career
Jugnauth was born at Palma, Quatre Bo ...
both fought to become the party's next leader. At the end Ashock moved out and formed his own party namely National Union (UN) and went forward with Paul Berenger and formed the new alliance MMM/UN. In July 2005, the MSM/MMM coalition went together for general elections and became the opposition party, but in 2006 they ended the deal and MSM became alone party while MMM took hands with UN.
The MMM/MSM coalition won the local council elections held on 9 December 2012. They obtained a total of 53 councilors against 36 for the government party
Mauritian Labour Party
The Labour Party (french: Parti Travailliste, PTr) is a centre-left social-democratic political party in Mauritius. It is one of four main Mauritian political parties along, with the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), the Militant Socialist Mov ...
and one for the Mauritian Movement Social Democrats. They will therefore administer the cities namely
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 eco ...
,
Quatre Bornes
Quatre Bornes () also known as ''La Ville des Fleurs'' (The City of Flowers), is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District, the western part also lies in the Rivière Noire District. The town is administered by the Municipal ...
and
Rose Hill while the only city administered by the government will be
Vacoas-Phoenix
Vacoas-Phoenix () also known as French: ''Villes Jumelles'' (Twin Cities), is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District, the eastern part also lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Vaco ...
. The city of
Curepipe is under a deadlock with 7 councillors elected from the MMM/MSM coalition, 7 councillors elected under the banner of the Labour Party and 1 elected under the Mauritian Movement Social Democrats. The deadlock will therefore be handled as soon as negotiations are made and an agreement is obtained.
Early Deal
Sir Anerood Jugnauth who was Prime Minister from 1982 to 1995 initiated the deal in early 2000. In 1995 the 60-0 victory of the MMM-MLP was outstanding as Sir Jugnauth lost his parliament seat. He had no choice to give more to the MMM so as to secure his party.
Mauritian Labor Party
The Labour Party (french: Parti Travailliste, PTr) is a centre-left social-democratic political party in Mauritius. It is one of four main Mauritian political parties along, with the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), the Militant Socialist Mo ...
and Mauritian Militant Movement began an alliance in 1995 and ousted the MSM out of the game.
Under the transition
Navin Ramgoolam, leader of MLP, became Prime Minister for the five years and MMM leader
Paul Berenger remained as Deputy Prime Minister for the five-year term. Sir Anerood offered Berenger more so as to attract him to form the coalition.
He therefore offered Berenger two years of being prime minister, a higher price than being Deputy for five years. He accepted and both signed the deal in August 2000.
The Medpoint Deal was based on equal power shared by both parties and the office of the Prime Minister being head of government was in the ratio 3:2. MSM would have the office for three years and MMM for the two remaining.
Sir Anerood had announced that he will be retiring as Prime Minister and that his last mandate would be the 2000 elections. He also initiated the idea that his son
Pravind Jugnauth
Pravind Kumar Jugnauth (born 25 December 1961) is a Mauritian politician serving as the prime minister of Mauritius since January 2017. Jugnauth has been the leader of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) party since April 2003. He has held a n ...
would become Leader of the MSM and he would stood down so as to make way for his son for the office of the Prime Minister.
Paul Berenger agreed that he would be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance for 3 years, and after that he would succeed to Sir Anerood who was to be dismissing from office during the same period.
Persons in the deal
There were four main persons concerned out the deal made in 2000. Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Paul Berenger, Pravind Jugnauth and
Karl Offmann
Karl Auguste Offmann, GCSK (25 November 1940 – 12 March 2022) was a Mauritian politician who briefly served as the president of Mauritius from 2002 to 2003.
After two of his successive predecessors had resigned over their refusal to sign a ...
.
Then President of the Republic,
Cassam Uteem
Cassam Uteem, GCSK (born in Port Louis on 22 March 1941) is a Mauritian political figure who served as the second president of Mauritius from 30 June 1992 to 15 February 2002. He is the longest served president of Mauritius, having served for nea ...
was at his last mandate as Head of State and was due to leave office in 2002. Karl Offmann who was a former Minister and Member of the MSM agreed to succeed to Uteem and it was on one condition, that he would work as President only when Sir Anerood Jugnauth would be Prime Minister. Therefore, the leaders were both aware that Offmann would not have five years mandate as President but less.
The deal also mentioned that as from September 2003, Pravind Jugnauth was to be appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance .
All those four people were playing the political prepared game and everyone was trained like a soldier on battlefield so as to snatch the government of the hands of
Navin Ramgoolam who was then Prime Minister.
Results
On 11 September 2000, the MSM/MMM team won over the general elections with a bigger majority that they had themselves expected. They had won 56 seats out of 60 seats in the parliament.
Sir Anerood Jugnauth
Sir Anerood Jugnauth, GCSK, PV, (29 March 1930 – 3 June 2021) was a Mauritian politician and barrister who served both as President and Prime Minister of Mauritius. He was Member of Parliament for Piton & Riviere Du Rempart.
A central f ...
was elected 1st Member of Piton & Riviere du Rempart and Paul Berenger elected 1st Member of Upper Rose Hill. They both began their deal and set up the new government with based equal power to both Parties.
The new government elected Sir Jugnauth as prime minister as mentioned in the deal.
New turn 2003
As expected, the two parties were friends with each other and also shared same power. In September 2003, Sir Jugnauth announced his departure and resignation as Prime Minister and Leader of the MSM in order to let Pravind become Leader.
He accepted to step down in favor of Paul Berenger.
Cassam Uteem
Cassam Uteem, GCSK (born in Port Louis on 22 March 1941) is a Mauritian political figure who served as the second president of Mauritius from 30 June 1992 to 15 February 2002. He is the longest served president of Mauritius, having served for nea ...
resigned 6 months before his mandate ended and the entire deal was taking a new turn.
Nevertheless, Karl Offmann took office earlier that year and as mentioned accepted to only work with Sir Jugnauth. Berenger on his part announced that he entering the Clarisse House (House of the Prime Minister) would be meaning political democracy and freedom as to allow a non-Hindu to hold the office of Prime Minister.
Presidential deal
Sir Anerood Jugnauth made another deal within the MSM/MMM deal in 2003. He did not need to resign from office but for the sake of his son he accepted his departure.
This deal was made upon the leadership of Jugnauth and Offmann who were both Head of State and Head of government. Karl Offmann agreed to step down as President in favor that Sir Anerood became his successor. In order to become Prime Minister, Paul Berenger had to announce the nomination of Jugnauth for President to the Parliament as well as elect his son Pravind as Deputy Prime Minister.
The deal was settled and SAJ announced in early September that he will be resigning as Prime Minister, but that the population would not have to worry for the upcoming years as he would become President after some time.
He resigned in September 2003 and Berenger took office of Prime Minister and nominated Jugnauth as President. After one week, in the start of October, Sir Anerood Jugnauth became president and also head of state.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Msm Mmm
Political parties in Mauritius
Socialist parties in Mauritius