Navin Ramgoolam sworn in as PM of Mauritius after election rout

Veteran Mauritian politician Navin Ramgoolam was sworn in as prime minister for his fourth term this week, a decade after he last left power, after his coalition's dramatic triumph in a general election.

His Alliance du Changement (ADC) coalition won a landslide 60 of the 62 national assembly seats with 62.6% of votes in Sunday's ballot.

Ramgoolam took the oath of office during a brief ceremony at State House, the official residence of President Prithvirajsing Roopun, in front of a selection of lawmakers, foreign diplomats and top civil servants.

Afterwards 77-year-old Ramgoolam, who previously served as prime minister from 1995 to 2000 and 2005 to 2014, told reporters the country had voted with rage, and he intended to transform it.

“There is a communion between us and the people. We will work to lift the country from the hell,” he said.

In 2006, Ramgoolam launched a programme to cut bureaucracy and simplify taxes to diversify the $10bn economy from tourism, textiles and sugar exports.

Since then country of about 1.3-million people, which markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, has grown as an offshore financial centre and been consistently ranked the easiest place to do business in Africa by the World Bank.

Despite steering the Indian Ocean archipelago to 7.0% economic growth last year, outgoing prime minister Pravind Jugnauth's popularity appeared to have been badly dented by a cost of living crisis and corruption allegations.

Last month Jugnauth, who had been in office since 2017, negotiated an agreement for Britain to cede the Chagos Islands while retaining the US-British Diego Garcia air base.

Reuters