Chamber:
	National Assembly - Assemblée nationale
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	11 September 2000
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the popularly chosen members of Parliament following the premature dissolution of this body in August 2000. General elections had previously been held in December 1995.
Background and outcome of elections:
	On 14 August 2000, Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam dissolved the National Assembly without explanation and called elections, four months before the end of its five-year term. After a month of campaigning free of violence, some 780,000 voters went to the polls on 11 September 2000 to choose from among 535 candidates representing 43 parties for the 62 seats at stake in Parliament (out of a total of 70 seats). Despite the large number of parties fielding candidates, pre-elections surveys predicted a vote that would ultimately be a showdown between the two main coalitions: the Labour Party (PTr)-led coalition government of Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam and an opposition alliance of the Militant Mauritian Movement (MMM), led by former Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth and the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), led by Paul Berenger, a former finance minister. Both coalitions promised, during the electoral campaign, to create 70,000 jobs and fight corruption. Results showed that the MMM and its partner, the MSM, had won 54 seats to only six for the Labour-dominated alliance. The other two seats on offshore Rodrigues Island were taken by a local party, the Organization of the People of Rodrigues (OPR). Observers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were for the first time present during the election and declared the poll free and fair. The new Government, headed by Sir Anerood Jugnauth, the aristocratic Hindu who has already been Prime Minister for 13 years at various times, took office on 17 September 2000.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (11 September 2000): Elections results
Number of registered electors	780 031
Voters	630 726 (81 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	7 263
Valid votes	623 463

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates	%
Alliance MSM - MMM	60	51.70
Alliance PTr - PMXD	60	36.57
Organization of the People of Rodrigues (OPR)	n.a.	n.a.

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Alliance MSM - MMM	54
Alliance PTr - PMXD	6
Organization of the People of Rodrigues (OPR)	2

Comments:
	8 seats are allocated under " best-loser " system MSM: Mauritian Socialist Movement : 2 MMM: Mauritian Militant Movement : 2 MR: Rodriguan Movement : 2 PTr: Labour Party : 1 PMXD: Mauritian Social Democratic Party of Xavier Duval : 1

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	66
Women:	4
Percent of women:	5.71