{"id":27420,"date":"2023-03-21T09:22:41","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T09:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues"},"modified":"2023-03-21T10:46:31","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T10:46:31","slug":"mauritius-voting-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues","title":{"rendered":"Mauritius Voting Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>In the shadows of the 7 November 2019 elections, many voters recently discovered that they had been removed from the \u2018Voters Register\u2019. They had all voted in the 2014 elections.<\/p>\n

The \u20182014 voters\u2019 (as I shall call them) have resided continuously at the same address since 2014. None of the disqualifying criteria of s43 of the Constitution applies to them.<\/p>\n

But the Electoral Office says in effect: \u201cSorry. . . we have removed your Constitutional right to vote (see ss42.43 and 44 of the Constitution) because you did not answer your door in January 2019 when we called.<\/p>\n

You then failed to ask us to restore your constitutional right to vote. It\u2019s your own fault and negligence. Nothing can be done because the Representation of the People Act (\u2018the Act\u2019) requires the \u2018Voters Register\u2019 to be finalised by August each year\u201d.<\/p>\n

Was There A Way to Restore the \u20182014 Voters\u2019 to the \u2018Voters Register\u2019 Before 7 November 2019? I invite the Electoral Commissioner to comment upon why he could not have used the provisions of ss36A and 39 of the Act to avoid disenfranchising the \u20182014 voters\u2019 from exercising their constitutional right to vote.<\/p>\n

My Suggestion Section 36A of the Act, in terms, enables the Electoral Commissioner to ask the Supreme Court to \u201corder insertion in the register of the name of any person which has been inadvertently omitted from it.<\/p>\n

\u201d (my emphasis). I am not aware of any Mauritian legal precedent which gives the word \u2018inadvertently\u2019 other than its ordinary meaning.<\/p>\n

S36A was perhaps intended to remedy any \u2018de\u0301rapage\u2019 in the voter registration process which spans January to August each year. In administering the Act, the Electoral Commissioner pays more than 2,500 people to visit every residence in January each year.<\/p>\n

The registration process then continues until August each year. Such a convoluted and archaic process provides ample scope for errors, hence the need for a \u2018roue de secours\u2019 which the Electoral Commissioner could use to restore to the \u20182014 voters\u2019 their constitutional right to vote.<\/p>\n

The Electoral Commissioner could apply for the order to restore the \u20182014 voters\u2019 to the list on an \u2018ex parte\u2019 basis. This means that the \u20182014 voters\u2019 need not appear in Court.<\/p>\n

All they should have to do is contact the Electoral Commissioner and ask nicely. The costs of such an \u2018ex parte\u2019 application to be borne by the Government out of the Consolidated Fund: see: s38.<\/p>\n

[Query how the Electoral Commissioner deals with our citizens who do not have a roof over their head or are hiding as squatters on someone else\u2019s land?]<\/p>\n

I also contend that some provisions of the Act are inconsistent with the cumulative work of the provisions of ss42,43 and 44 of our Constitution. But that\u2019s a more complicated discussion.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your attention. Let\u2019s hope that the Electoral Commissioner will explain his position to the public which he has served so superbly over the years.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. In the shadows of the 7 November 2019 elections, many voters recently discovered that they had been removed from the \u2018Voters Register\u2019. They had all voted in the 2014 elections. The \u20182014 voters\u2019 (as I shall call them) have resided continuously at the same address since 2014. None of the disqualifying criteria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,245,609,241],"class_list":["post-27420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-elections","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nMauritius Voting Issues - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the shadows of the 7 November 2019 elections, many voters recently discovered that they had been removed from the \u2018Vo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mauritius Voting Issues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the shadows of the 7 November 2019 elections, many voters recently discovered that they had been removed from the \u2018Vo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-21T09:22:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-21T10:46:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679378080.28.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"253\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mauritius Voting Issues\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-21T09:22:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-21T10:46:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1679378080.28.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Elections\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mauritius-voting-issues\",\"name\":\"Mauritius Voting Issues - 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