Mauritians do not want political leaders to remain in power ad vitam eternam and wish the Prime Minister to remain in power for a maximum of two terms.
Mauritians are also fully supportive of having more transparency in the way political parties finance their electoral campaigns.
However, they believe that finances for political parties should not come from the State or taxpayers money. Parties should look for their own funds.
On 27 January 2015, the newly formed government of Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth has reiterated its wish to reform the electoral system. The former ruling party and its ally had brought the idea of moving Mauritius to a "Second Republic" with an elected President with a 7-year
renewable term and a Prime Minister with no limitation of terms. The new Government proposes to keep the present system but with the addition of "a dose of proportional representation and guarantee better women representation". In addition, The Electoral Supervisory Commission will
be given wider powers especially for the control and sanction of electoral fraud and corruption as well as control over political funding and abuse of position or power.
The findings of the 2014 Afrobarometer survey could guide decision-makers on what Mauritians really want in terms of number of terms a prime minister can hold office. Indeed, the results show that the propositions of the former ruling party were not to be accepted by the electorate and
a majority of people want term limitations for the prime minister. In our previous release (15 October 2014), the idea of having an elected president is not shared by everybody. It also sheds light on the opinions on how political parties should be financed and such finance monitored.
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