Constituencies of Mauritius

rdf:langString Constituencies of Mauritius

rdf:langString Constituencies of Mauritius are the electoral boundaries within the Republic of Mauritius. They are also commonly referred to as Circonscriptions amongst the locals. The country follows the Westminster system and elects 60 members of parliament for a term of 5 years. There are in all 21 Constituencies in the republic, each of them returning 3 members with the exception of Constituency No 21, which returns only 2 members. The Constitution stipulates that there shall be 20 constituencies and one created specially for the Rodrigues island. Those electoral boundaries are considered to be the main pillars for elections as they allow members of parliament to be elected and thus to form the government. As mentioned in the Constitution, the Electoral Boundaries Commission shall review the boundaries of the constituencies at such times as will enable them to present a report to the Assembly 10 years, as near as may be, after 12 August 1966 and, thereafter, 10 years after presentation of their last report. Due to the ethnic diversity of Mauritius the country's political system ensures that all ethnic groups are fairly represented. The Constitution identifies 4 main ethnic groups which are the Indo-Mauritians, Muslims, General Population and Sino-Mauritians. General Population refers to the Creoles, Franco-Mauritians as well as Christians of South Indian (Tamil) origins.