History
The Office of the Prime Minister of Mauritius was created on March 12, 1968. Prior to that date, it was the Chief Minister who was responsible for the running of the government. The Queen Elizabeth 2 resigned over executive power in Mauritius but remained as the Head of State till 1992. The Father of the Nation, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was the main protagonist to fight peacefully for the independence of the country.
The only Chief Minister was Seewoosagur Ramgoolam from 1961 to 1968. The delegation to the London conference which was against the authoritarian government of England, was maintained in 1965. After several conferences during the same year and 1966, the coalition government of Ramgoolam wanted desperately an independent country under the Westminster system. The coalition was made of the Mauritius Labour Party, Muslim Action Committee and the Independent Forward Block.
The final conference was led by a delegation of the coalition government led by Ramgoolam in 1967. Known as the Lancaster conference, this would be the final negotiations and meeting under her Majesty's governance. The Mauritius Labour Party was represented by Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Veerasamy Ringadoo, Harold Walter and Satcam Boolell, while the Muslim Action Committee was delegated by Abdool Razack Mohammed and the Independent Forward Block being represented by Sookdeo Bissoundoyal and Anerood Jugnauth.
After agreeing that Mauritius should renounce to the sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelagos, the British government finally settled the independence agreement. The Queen would remain head of state and sovereign. The election in 1967 brought to a victory of Dr.Ramgoolam who became Prime Minister on the same date. He remained there till 1976 when second elections took place and Sir Anerood Jugnauth made his appearance in high politics and became Leader of Opposition in the same year. He remained there until 1982 when with both pressures of the opposition and Harish Boodhoo's PSM party, he had to announce election again where in 1982 the third elections occurred where he lost heavily to Sir Anerood Jugnauth winning all seats in parliament.
Sir Jugnauth became second Prime Minister succeeding to Dr. Ramgoolam. He was with 2 other leaders, Paul Berenger & Harish Boodhoo where one was Deputy Prime Minister and the other Minister of Finance. The team broke up in 1983 and Boodhoo and Berenger announced their break up in their Party. Due to this, once again elections occurred in 1983 and once again Sir Anerood Jugnauth was reappointed as Prime Minister. He served until 1995 where he was defeated by Navin Ramgoolam, the son of Dr.Ramgoolam.
Since then, with the new constitution of 1992, the position of Prime Minister is in terms of 5 years and not more. Since then, each 5 years elections takes place and a new Prime Minister is elected.
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