Mauritius At a Glance
History
Mauritius is an island, of volcanic formation, located in the centre of the Indian Ocean and has an area of 2,040 km square. The island was first visited briefly in the years 1500-1600 by the Arabs, Portuguese and Dutch. The latter inhabited the island for almost a century and departed in 1710 while leaving the sugarcane plantation they had introduced.
In 1715, the French then took control of Ile De France (as the country was then known). In 1810, the French surrendered to the British invasion and the island went under the British rule till 12 March 1968 when Mauritius turned into a sovereign democratic state. Mauritius became a Republic on 12 March 1992.
The Constitution of Mauritius provides for separation of powers through the three organs available to the State: the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.
The Legislature
The Parliament of Mauritius is modeled after the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, where Members of Parliament are voted in at regular general elections on the basis of a first past the post system. The Parliament consists of the President and a National Assembly. The later is made up of 70 members of whom 62 are directly elected in 21 constituencies.
The Executive
The executive authority of the Republic of Mauritius is vested in the President who shall then appoint the Prime Minister, its Deputy Prime Minister from the majority ruling party to hold office until the next general elections. The Prime Minister is then invited to form his Cabinet which shall consist of other Ministers duly elected. The Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the Assembly for all things done by or under authority of any Minister in execution of his office.
The Attorney-General shall be the principle legal advisor to the Government of Mauritius.
The final court of Appeal of Mauritius is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In 2008 and 2010 appeal cases from the decision of the Supreme Court have been heard before the Judicial Committee sitting in Mauritius itself.
The Judiciary
The Judiciary is vested with power to administer justice in the country and is independent of the Executive and Legislature as provided by the Constitution. Mauritius has a single-structured judicial system consisting of the Supreme Court and subordinate courts. The Supreme Court has the same original jurisdiction as the High Court in England and is vested with all necessary powers and authority to exercise its equitable jurisdiction as a Court of Equity.
The final court of Appeal of Mauritius is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In 2008 and 2010 appeal cases from the decision of the Supreme Court have been heard before the Judicial Committee sitting in Mauritius itself.
Legal System
Mauritius enjoys a hybrid legal system. The country’s legal system is based on French civil law system with elements of English common law in certain areas. The procedural law in criminal and civil litigation is mainly in English while the substantive law is mainly based on the French Napoleonic code.
Population
With a growing rate of 0.5% since mid 2009, the population of Mauritius is estimated at 1.27 million as at 2019. The population density is 623.22 persons per square kilometer. The sex ratio is approximately 98 males per 100 females.
Economy
The headline inflation rate for the twelve months ending March 2019 works out to 1.4%.
During the period 2008 to 2018, the Gross Value Added (GVA) in real terms grew by an annual average of 3.6%.
During the period 2008 to 2018, capital input grew at an average annual rate of 3.7% for the total economy whereas declines of 2.4% and 3.3% were recorded in Manufacturing and EOE respectively.
The unemployment rate worked out to 6.9% for 2018.
Culture
Mauritius has a cosmopolitan culture with co-existence among Mauritians of people from Indian, African, European and Chinese ancestry. This has resulted into a sharing of cultures and values, a collective participation in events and increased understanding between people of different backgrounds. Mauritius is today a unique blend of peoples, languages and cultures. Creole is the common spoken language while English is the official language of the country. Amongst other languages, French is widely used and understood followed by oriental languages such as Bhojpuri, Hindi, Telegu, Tamil, Marathi, and Chinese. Most people are bilingual to trilingual.