1948 Mauritian general election

General elections were held in Mauritius in August 1948. They were the first under a new constitution, which established a Legislative Council with 19 elected members, 12 appointed members and 3 ex officio members,[1] and expanded the franchise to all adults who could write their name in one of the island's languages.[2] They were won by the Labour Party led by Guy Rozemont,[3] with eleven of the 19 elected seats won by Hindus. However, the Governor-General Donald Mackenzie-Kennedy appointed twelve conservatives to the Council on 23 August, largely to ensure the dominance of English and French speakers.[4][2]

They were the first elections held under the new constitution and the first in which women stood as candidate. Emilienne Rochecouste, who ran as an independent, was elected in Plaines Wilhems–Black River, becoming the first Mauritian woman elected to the Legislative Council. Following the elections, Denise De Chazal was appointed as one of the twelve nominated members.[5]

Results

The elections were held over two days, with Port Louis and Plaines Wilhems-Rivière Noire voting on 9 August and the remainder voting on 10 August.[6]

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Notes
Port Louis	Guy Rozemont	7,257	16.4	Elected
	Charles Edgard Millien	7,169	16.2	Elected
	Renganaden Seeneevassen	5,257	11.9	Elected
	Samuel Benjamin Emile	4,782	10.8	Elected
	François Gabriel Martial	4,350	9.9
	Abdool Razack Mohamed	4,331	9.8
	Alphonse Gontrand Zamudio	3,275	7.4
	Cassam Mamode Nazroo	2,498	5.7
	Louis François Raynald Moutia	2,269	5.1
	Ajum Dahal	1,992	4.5
	Joseph Marcel Mason	516	1.2
	Louis Frank Noël Nellan	457	1.0
Plaines Wilhems- Black River	Jules Marie Joseph Louis Maurice Jean Koenig	10,129	11.4	Elected
	Louise Marie Emilienne Rochecouste	9,329	10.5	Elected
	Peter Gérard Raymond Rault	8,195	9.3	Elected
	Dunputh Luckeenarain	7,988	9.0	Elected
	Joseph Guy Forget	7,436	8.4	Elected
	Louis Raoul Rivet	7119	8.0	Elected
	Paul Maurice Laurence Nairac	6,147	6.9
	Moonasur Kooraram	6,099	6.9
	Félix Conrad Laventure	5,681	6.4
	Jean Raoul Lamalétie	5,354	6.1
	Amédée Poupard	5,290	6.0
	Jacques Sizefroi Esaïe David	5,069	5.7
	Rechad Ben Noorooya	4,250	4.8
	Marie Eugène Grégoire	397	0.4
Grand Port-Savanne	Sookdeo Bissoondoyal	5,612	18.7	Elected
	Jaynarain Roy	5,174	17.3	Elected
	Juggurnauth Bedaysee	4,707	15.7	Elected
	Charles Henri Raymond Hein	3,480	11.6
	Marie Louis Philippe Rozemont	2,908	9.7
	Wilfrid L'etang	2,757	9.2
	Mamode Ismael Ghanty	2,629	8.8
	Dayanandsing Ramdin	2,183	7.3
	Louis Antoine Marcel Marrier D'Unienville	540	1.8
Pamplemousses- Rivière du Rempart	Seewoosagur Ramgoolam	5,982	23.4	Elected
	Harilall Ranchhordas Vaghjee	5,655	22.2	Elected
	Aunauth Beejadhur	5,118	20.1	Elected
	Jean Philippe Lagesse	2,846	11.2
	Radhamohun Gujadhur	2,082	8.2
	Donald Francis	1,370	5.4
	Ramawad Sewgobind	1,087	4.3
	Ramsoondar Baboolall	577	2.3
	Ramchundur Goburdhun	405	1.6
	Rampartab Allgoo	397	1.6
Moka-Flacq	Sookdeosing Balgobin	4,737	18.2	Elected
	Bhagwan Gujadhur	4,602	17.7	Elected
	Ramsoomer Balgobin	4,544	17.5	Elected
	Alexis Désire Fernand Leclézio	4,472	17.2
	Ackbar Gujadhur	3,139	12.1
	Ismaël Peeroo	2,600	10.0
	Satyadev Salabee	1,929	7.4
Total		214,168	100
Source: Electoral Commission

References

1. History and Information Archived 2010-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Mauritius Permanent Mission to the UN
2. Mauritius: Toward Independence Country Data
3. History Mauritius UK Connection
4. Colonial Office, The Church House The London Gazette, 3 September 1948
5. Ramtohul, Ramola (2009). "Engendering Mauritian History: The Hidden Controversies over Female Suffrage". Afrika Zamani (17): 63–80.
6. Results of the General Election for the Mauritius Legislative Council held on 9/10 August Electoral Commission