Mauritian Militant Movement
Mauritian Militant Movement Mouvement Militant Mauricien | ||
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National Assembly of Mauritius | 9 / 69
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The Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) (English: Mauritian Militant Movement) is a
In the general election of 2014, the MMM became the second largest party in the National Assembly of Mauritius with 12 Members of Parliament, and the second largest party at the municipal level, with 4 councillors.
Structure
The party is divided into twenty Regionales, one for each of the twenty
Women's Wing
Since its inception in 1969, the MMM has emphasized women's rights, and claims to have been the first political party in the country to have done so.[1]. A Women's Wing was officially organized in 1974, with the goal of ensuring consistent representation of women in the Central Committee and the Political Bureau. It also seeks to support female candidates for parliamentary elections. Its fourteen-member executive committee is elected at the same time as the party's Central Committee. The party's constitution allocates at least two positions on the Central Committee to women who are not Members of Parliament.
Youth Wing
The Youth Wing, officially Jeunesse Militante, formed in 1973, is open to all Mauritian citizens aged between fifteen and thirty. A Youth Wing member can be affiliated to a branch or Regionale, or can join the Youth Wing directly. Membership is free of charge.
The Youth Wing is led by eleven executive members. They are chosen, normally for one year, by secret ballot of sixty representatives, three from each of the twenty Regionales.
History
The MMM's origins date back to 1968 when students' movements Club des Étudiants Mauriciens and Quatre-Bornes Students Association were formed by Veenoo Mootien and Robin Punchoo respectively. These two groups merged into Club des Étudiants, which met regularly at Tennyson College, Quatre Bornes. In September 1969 during street protests against Princess Alexandra's visit, 12 of the student-activists (including Heeralall Bhugaloo, Paul Bérenger, and Sushil Khushiram) were arrested by local police. After their release from prison, and with the assistance of PMSD MP Hurry Parsad Sham (also known as Panchoo), the student movement established its first Executive Committee at Heeralall Bhugaloo's Port Louis High School. The committee's first elected members were Heeralall Bhugaloo, Dev Virahsawmy, Jooneed Jeeroobhurkhan, Tirat Ramkissoon, Sushil Khushiram, Ah Ken Wong, Robin Punchoo, and Paul Bérenger. Other notable members of the new party were Zeel Peerun, Fureed Muttur, Chafeekh Jeeroburkhan, Krishen Mati, Kriti Goburdhun, Allen Sew Kwan Kan, Vela Vengaroo, and Amédée Darga. The movement also modified its name to Mouvement Militant Mauricien in September 1969.[3][4][1]
The early years
The MMM won its first parliamentary seat in a by-election in Constituency No. 5 Triolet-Pamplemousses in September 1970, following the death of
The MMM experienced its first schism in 1972, when the party's president Heeralall Bhugaloo left the party due to clashes over language and clothing preferences.[6] Shortly afterwards Dev Virahsawmy left the party in 1973 to found the MMMSP.[7]
The path to power: 1976-1982
In 1976, in
The MMM won power in the municipalities of
On the 13th of January 1977 Heeralall Bhugaloo resigned from his position of Minister of Education under the Labour-PMSD government which he had held since the December 1976 elections. This made way for Kher Jagatsingh who took on Bhugaloo's ministerial seat.
In the following election in 1982, the MMM campaigned on a theme of change. Using the slogan, Enn nouvo simen pou enn nouno lavie , the MMM won 42 of the directly elected seats in its own right, with a further 18 seats going to the PSM and 2 to the Rodrigues People's Organisation, both of which were electorally allied to the MMM. The MMM and its allies had thus made a unanimous sweep of the directly elected seats — an unprecedented feat. Jugnauth became Prime Minister, with Paul Bérenger as Minister of Finance.
The 1983 schism and aftermath
Disagreements within the MMM led to a schism on 22 March 1983, when Prime Minister Jugnauth rejected Bérenger's demands for the executive powers of the Prime Minister to be transferred to the Cabinet as a collective body. The party sought to replace Jugnauth with
Since 1990
In the 2000 elections, the MMM again formed an alliance with the MSM, under an agreement that each party would contest an equal number of parliamentary seats; if successful, they would divide the Cabinet posts equally, and that Jugnauth, the MSM leader, would serve as prime minister for three years, after which he would resign, assume the largely ceremonial Presidency, and hand the Prime Minister's office over to Bérenger. Accordingly, Bérenger succeeded Jugnauth as Prime Minister on 30 September 2003. He led the MMM/MSM alliance to defeat in the elections of 2005, however. The alliance subsequently broke up and the MMM contested the May 2010 elections against the MSM as part of the Alliance du Coeur with two smaller parties — the Union National of Ashock Jugnauth and Social Democrat Mauritian Mouvement (MMSD) of Eric Guimbeau. The Alliance du Coeur won only 18 of the 60 directly elected seats, as well as two indirectly elected seats.
By 2014, the deputy leader of the party resigned[9] when the MMM had formed a new alliance with the Labour Party. In the general election held on 10 December that year, this alliance won only 16 of the 69 directly and indirectly elected seats. Of these, 12 were won by the MMM itself. In 2015, the future of the party was questioned after several members resigned from the party.[10]
Party leaders
Leader | Incumbency |
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Paul Bérenger | 1969–1976 |
Sir Anerood Jugnauth | 1976–1983 |
Paul Bérenger | 1983–1987 |
Prem Nababsing | 1987–1995 |
Paul Bérenger | 1995–2013 |
Alan Ganoo | January 2013-October 2013 |
Paul Bérenger | October 2013 – present |
Parliament
Election | Number of overall seats won |
Position | Leader | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
1976 | 34 / 70
|
1st | Sir Anerood Jugnauth | Leader of the Opposition |
1982 | 48 / 70
|
1st | Sir Anerood Jugnauth | Prime Minister |
1983 | 22 / 70
|
2nd | Paul Bérenger | Leader of the Opposition |
1987 | 24 / 70
|
2nd | Prem Nababsing | Leader of the Opposition |
1991 | 26 / 70
|
2nd | Prem Nababsing | Deputy Prime Minister |
1995 | 25 / 70
|
2nd | Paul Bérenger | Deputy Prime Minister |
2000 | 26 / 70
|
2nd | Paul Bérenger | Deputy Prime Minister |
2005 | 10 / 70
|
3rd | Paul Bérenger | Leader of the Opposition |
2010 | 20 / 70
|
2nd | Paul Bérenger | Leader of the Opposition |
2014 | 12 / 69
|
2nd | Paul Bérenger | Leader of the Opposition |
Affiliations
The MMM is a member of the
References
- ^ a b "Une naissance sous l'etat d'urgence et la repression", Le Militant, p. 8, 25 September 2009
- ^ "Principes du Mouvement Militant Mauricien". 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ Punchoo, Robin. "Distorted facts about the birth of the MMM". L'Express. Retrieved 2005-06-09.
- ^ "Histoire du MMM de 1969 à 2006". MMM. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
- ^ Ahmed Khan, Iqbal. "Controversy: Soodhun's curious diplomacy with the Saudi Kingdom". L'Express. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
- ^ "Heeralall Bhugaloo - un homme de coeur". 5Plus. Retrieved 2004-06-15.
- ^ Rédaction. "Il y a 42 ans: Li de Dev Virahsawmy embarrasse la censure". L'Express. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
- ^ "Il y a 41 ans, le 15 janvier 1977: Kher Jagatsingh remplace Heeralall Bhugaloo comme ministre de l'Education". L'Express. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
- ^ "Ivan Collendavelloo claque la porte au MMM". Lexpress.mu. 22 April 2014.
- ^ "Démissions au MMM : Bientôt vers la fin du parti ?". Lexpress.mu. 25 April 2015.
- ^ "Members".
- ^ "Participants | Progressive Alliance". Archived from the original on 2015-03-02. Retrieved 2014-12-08.
External links
- Official website (in French)