Sir Anerood Jugnauth (29 March 1930 – 3 June 2021) was a Mauritian statesman, barrister, and politician. He served six terms as Prime Minister, two terms as President and one term as Leader of Opposition. Often called the father of the Mauritian economic miracle, he led Mauritius through unprecedented economic growth and modernization as both Prime Minister and President.
He diversified the economy beyond sugarcane into tourism, textiles, offshore services, IT, and knowledge sectors, while modernizing infrastructure like airports, ports, and roads.
Under his leadership, Mauritius became a republic on 12 March 1992, improved living standards, expanded social welfare, and secured UNESCO World Heritage Sites. He also championed Mauritius’s sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago internationally, leaving a legacy of economic prosperity and political stability for the country.
Early life Jugnauth was born in Palma, Mauritius in a Bhojpuri speaking Hindu Indo-Mauritian family belonging to the Ahir broader Yadav community and was brought up there. His grandfather had migrated to Mauritius from the Ballia District of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the 1870s. His father was Ramlochun Jugnauth and his mother was Soomeetra Ramnath. His parents separated when he was a child and he was brought up by his father, step-mother and elder cousin Lall Jugnauth. He had his primary education at Palma Primary School and his secondary education at Regent College. He taught for some time at New Eton College and later worked as a clerk in the Poor Law Department for some time before being transferred to the Judicial Department. In 1951, he left Mauritius for the UK to study law at the Lincoln's Inn, and became a lawyer in 1954.
Political career Early beginnings: 1957–1976
In 1957, Jugnauth was elected President of Palma Village Council. Whilst serving as an IFB member of Legislative Council he was also elected as member of the Municipal Council of Vacoas-Phoenix.
Jugnauth was elected for the first time to the Legislative Council in Constituency No. 14 of Riviere du Rempart at a time when there were 40 Constituencies in the island in October 1963 and was candidate of the Independent Forward Bloc (IFB).
In 1964, he was one of the founders of All Mauritius Hindu Congress but continued to serve in Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam's government as State Minister for Development from 1965 to 1966. He was then promoted to Minister of Labour in November 1966. Jugnauth was part of the Mauritian delegation representing the Independent Forward Bloc at the 1965 Lancaster House Conference where the independence of Mauritius was decided.
He resigned from office in April 1967, joined the Civil Service as Magistrate, and did not take part in the August 1967 General Elections.
In 1970 he joined the MMM and became the party's president. and led the party in its first electoral campaign, being presented as its prime minister candidate in 1976.
In opposition: 1976–1982
The main contenders of the 1976 elections were the Independence Party (alliance of Mauritian Labor Party and the CAM), PMSD, UDM, IFB and the relatively new MMM led by Paul Bérenger and Jugnauth himself.
Despite receiving most of the votes (38.64%) the MMM only secured 34 seats, two short of an absolute majority. The Independence Party scored 37.90% of votes and 28 seats, whilst the PMSD received 16.20% of the votes and 8 seats.
By re-establishing its former alliance, which it had since 1969 with the PMSD, Ramgoolam managed to stay in power. The Labour-PMSD-CAM alliance occupied 36 seats with a weak majority of only 2 seats, despite CAM's leader Sir Abdool Razack Mohamed's failure to be re-elected. Jugnauth became Leader of the Opposition until 1982 when his alliance won all the seats in the assembly.
Premiership: 1982–1995
From 1976 to 1982, the MLP had been weakened by the defection of part of its coalition partner, the PMSD, while the CAM declined to contest the election. The MMM had formed an alliance with Harish Boodhoo's Parti Socialiste Mauricien known as PSM.
The election resulted in a landslide victory for the MMM-PSM alliance (formed by Jugnauth and Berenger in early 1981), which won 64.16% of the vote and all 60 elected seats (42 by the MMM, 18 by the PSM, and two for the allied Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais) (for more detail see 1982 Legislative Assembly election results). Voter turn-out was 87.3%, with 471,196 out of an electorate of 540,000 casting their votes for the 34 parties contesting 62 seats. The LP, which had dominated Mauritian politics since 1948, won no seats and (together with the Muslim Action Committee) only 25.78% of the vote. The PMSD did even worse, receiving only 7.79% of the vote. The LP and the PMSD each did eventually receive two seats in parliament under the best-loser provisions.
Jugnauth became Prime Minister of Mauritius for the first time, Boodhoo Deputy Prime Minister, and Paul Bérenger Minister of Finance. Jugnauth being prime minister announced general elections in 1983 again. This time he was not a candidate for the MMM but he proposed to Boodhoo dissolving the PSM to make a new stronger Party called the MSM (Militant Socialist Movement). He created the MSM and in Alliance with the Mauritian Labour Party went to the general elections together trying to fight against Berenger and his MMM. In March 1983, the government collapsed when the dominant faction within the MMM [Mouvement Militant Mauricien], led by Bérenger, split from Jugnauth's leadership and resigned from the cabinet.
In early April 1983, Jugnauth formed a new party, the Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM), which, in May, amalgamated with the PSM led by Harish Boodhoo. However, the new government lacked a majority in the legislative assembly, and Jugnauth dissolved the National assembly in June. New elections were held on 23 August 1983. Jugnauth was re-elected and returned as prime minister of the MSM-PMSD-Labour alliance, defeating the MMM.
The MMM received 209,845 votes (46.4%) – the highest proportion of the vote ever received by a single party in any Mauritian election. The Alliance received 236,146 votes (52.22%); independents and the Rodrigues parties got the remaining 1.38% and two seats. Of the 552,800 registered voters, 452,221 (81.8%) had voted. When seats were distributed, however, the Alliance held a majority – 46 to the 22 received by the MMM. The disproportionate weighting of seats reflects the fact that MMM votes were concentrated in urban constituencies where large numerical majorities won only three seats, whereas the Alliance swept the rural constituencies where Hindus predominated.
Within months of taking office, the Alliance began a process of fragmentation that by 1986 left the government without a working majority in parliament. When in February 1984, the MLP (Mauritius Labour Party) left the government, 11 of its MPs continued to support the government and formed a faction within the MLP called the Rassemblement des Travaillistes Mauriciens (RTM). Upon proroguing parliament in November 1986, Jugnauth agreed that an election was necessary.
Parliament was dissolved on 3 July, and the election date set for 30 August 1987, one year ahead of schedule. Campaigning started on 22 July 1987. Jugnauth's Alliance fought the election with his MSM (Militant Socialist Movement), Duval's MPSD (Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate), and both major factions of the MLP, the one led by Satcam Boolell and the RTM. The MMM allied itself with two small parties, the Mouvement Travailliste Démocrat (RTD) and the Front des Travailleurs Socialiste (FTS). A total of 639,488 voters were registered (approximately 60% of the total population) and of these, 546,623 (85.5%) cast their votes. A total of 359 candidates ran for the 62 elected seats. During the election campaign, the ruling MSM/MLP/PMSD alliance was known as the Sun (Soleil) and the opposing union (composed of MMM/MTD/FTS) as the Heart (Coeur) after their respective emblems.
While overall participation of voters in the polling amounted to 85.5%, it ran up to 93% in some constituencies. The average size of the multimember constituencies was around 30,000. As in previous elections, the MMM and its partners received the highest percentage of votes, 48.12%, of which a small percentage can be attributed to its two small partners (see 1987 Legislative Assembly election results for more detail). It won 21 seats, comprising 19 of the 30 urban seats, and only two of the 30 rural seats. The Alliance (MSM/PMSD/MLP) won a total of 49.86% and 39 seats. After the best-loser seats were allocated, the Alliance held 46 seats to the MMM's 24. The two seats of the Organisation du Peuple Rodriguais helped to raise those of the Alliance to 46.
On 6 August 1991, Jugnauth dissolved the national assembly and announced that a general election would be held on 15 September, nearly a year early. Jugnauth led an alliance of his MSM (Militant Socialist Movement) with the MMM (Mauritian Militant Movement) and the RTD (Rassemblement des Travaillistes Mauriciens) against an alliance of the MLP (Mauritius Labour Party) and the PMSD (Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate). The MSM/MMM/RTD alliance was better prepared than the opposition. Before the election date had been announced, it had already drawn up its list of candidates for the 20 constituencies and published its election manifesto. The opposition lost valuable time with lengthy negotiations concerning candidates and manifesto. Some 25 parties and independents and 331 candidates were involved. According to official figures, 682,000 voters (about 63% of the total population of 1,083,000) were entitled to vote, and of these about 576,300 (84.5%) turned out. The government alliance's 56.3% of the vote gave it 57 seats in parliament, while the opposition's 39.9% of the vote gave it only three seats. Only four best-loser seats were allocated. Jugnauth once more ruled in Parliament House for a fourth term, and was once more elected prime minister.
Defeat and out from parliament: 1995–2000
When Jugnauth lost a vote of confidence over a language issue that required an amendment to the constitution, he dissolved parliament on 16 November 1995 and called a snap election for 20 December. Candidates had to be nominated by 4 December, and the campaign was officially opened on 5 December. A record 506 candidates entered the fray in which some 42 parties and independents participated. A landslide victory for the opposition ended Jugnauth's rule as prime minister which had lasted since 1982. The Labour Party-Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) alliance captured all 60 of the directly elected seats on the island of Mauritius with only 63.7% of the poll, representing a mere 51.1% of the total electorate. The two seats on the island of Rodrigues went to l'Organisation du Peuple de Rodrigues (OPR). The MSM-RMM alliance obtained 19.3% of the votes cast or the support of 15.4% of the total electorate, but even under the best-loser system it found itself without a single seat in the National Assembly. (Renouveau Militant Mauricien (RMM) was the name adopted by a substantial part of the MMM led by Dr. Prem Nababsing (after Bérenger had broken away from it in 1993 and retained the right to the name of MMM).
Only four best-loser seats were allocated and went to small parties with little national influence – two to the Mouvement Rodriguais in Rodrigues island and the other two respectively to the Hizbullah Party and the Parti Gaëtan Duval (PGD, formerly the PMSD). Jugnauth stood as a candidate at the by-election held in constituency No. 9 (Flacq/Bon Acceuil) in April 1998 but was defeated. He immediately initiated the idea of an MSM/MMM federation which eventually took shape in January 1999. The Federation was dissolved, however, after the defeat of its candidate at the by-election held on 19 September 1999.