PORT LOUIS: Mauritius was holding a parliamentary election on Sunday with Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and his main rivals all promising to tackle a cost of living crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Polling centers opened at 7 a.m. (0300 GMT), with small numbers of voters seen moving to check their names in the register before picking their ballots, a Reuters witness said. Voting was expected to end at 1400 GMT.
The country of about 1.3 million people markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, deriving most of its revenues from a flourishing offshore financial sector, tourism and textiles.
It has forecast 6.5 percent economic growth this year compared with 7.0 percent last year but many voters are not feeling the benefits.
Jugnauth’s Alliance Lepep coalition has promised to raise minimum wages, increase pensions and reduce value-added tax on some basic goods.
It says it will use payments from the UK under an October agreement for Britain to cede the Chagos Islands while retaining the US-UK Diego Garcia air base.
Mauritius also receives aid from China.
“The alliance led by the prime minister is selling the economic prosperity card, with promises of more money to different segments of the population,” said political analyst Subash Gobine.
The opposition is also pledging to increase pensions as well as introduce free transport and Internet services and reduce fuel prices.
It is dominated by the Alliance du Changement coalition led by Navin Ramgoolam and two other parties running in the Linion Reform alliance, whose leaders, Nando Bodha and Roshi Bhadain, plan to alternate as prime minister if they win.
“It is the youths who will make the difference in these elections,” voter David Stafford, 36, said in the capital Port Louis, explaining that people were looking for economic innovation and job opportunities as much as fiscal changes.
Just over a million people are expected to choose lawmakers for the islands’ 62 seats in parliament for the next five years from a list of 68 parties and five political alliances.
Last week, Jugnauth’s government blocked social media platforms until a day after the election, when results are expected, citing national security concerns after conversations between public figures were leaked. It lifted the ban a day later after opposition parties criticized the move.
Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister’s post.
Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds
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Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds
US accuses South Africa of harassing US officials working with Afrikaners
WASHINGTON: Washington on Thursday accused South Africa of harassing US government employees working with Afrikaners, the white minority to whom President Donald Trump is granting refugee status, in the latest escalation of tensions.
The State Department said that passport information of US officials was leaked and warned in a statement that “failure by the South African government to hold those responsible accountable will result in severe consequences.”
South Africa replied that the allegation was unsubstantiated and rejected “any suggestion of state involvement in such actions.”
The accusations came after South Africa arrested and expelled Wednesday seven Kenyans brought in by the US government to assist in processing Afrikaners seeking to move to the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration has claimed Afrikaners are victims of discrimination and even “genocide,” which the Pretoria government strongly denies.
South Africa said the Kenyans arrested at a processing center on Tuesday were on tourist visas that did not allow them to work — the type of violation seized on by Trump as he carries out mass deportations from the United States.
The State Department alleged that Americans had also been briefly held in the raid, which it said the United States “condemns in the strongest terms.”
It added that officials’ passport information had been made public.
So-called doxxing, or revealing personal information, “is an unacceptable form of harassment” and puts people in harm’s way, the State Department said.
It did not immediately provide further details on the purported incident.
‘Seeking clarity’
South Africa “noted an unsubstantiated allegation regarding the private information” and was seeking clarity from Washington, the foreign ministry in Pretoria said later.
“We categorically reject any suggestion of state involvement in such actions,” it said in a statement.
The government has already said no US officials were arrested in Tuesday’s raid, which was not carried out at a diplomatic site.
The seven Kenyan nationals who were expelled had violated South African law by working without the correct permits, the foreign ministry repeated.
“The government will not negotiate its sovereignty and the implementation of the rule of law,” it said.
Trump has repeatedly attacked South Africa’s post-apartheid government over what he calls persecution of the Afrikaners, an allegation that had gained ground online with the far-right.
He has been increasingly open on his desire to rid the United States of immigrants other than white Europeans and all but ended the once-generous US refugee resettlement program, which now only accepts Afrikaners among all the world’s people.
The State Department in a separate statement Thursday confirmed it did not invite South Africa to an initial meeting on planning next year’s Group of 20 summit, the first time a member of the bloc is being excluded.
