Opposition unites in election petition but where are they heading?

The PTR with Arvind Boolell and the MMM with Paul Berenger agrees to work together to file a petition regarding the Nov 7 elections.

The lawyers of the PTR are looking into the best ways possible to approach the ordeal.

They intend to fight the results in many constituencies and may their plea to the election as a whole.

But the question among their supporters is how far will this initiative go? Will it come to fruition in the courts? Will their arguments hold sway in the eyes of the judges at the Supreme Court?

We cannot answer what happens next, but the two parties together with the PMSD of Xavier Luc Duval believe they have a case.

Berenger says there are serious doubts on the results in several constituencies. The MMM won only 8 seats from the 60 candidates the party presented.

It is now the third force in the Parliament with 9 seats, getting 1 from the Best Loser system.

SENSE OF UNEASE IN MAURITIUS

Berenger says the MMM accepted the results, but since the elections are over, there are many things that came out.

“There is a sense of unease among the population. There are no real celebrations out there,” he says, to drive his point on doubts regarding the polls.

Among the grudges from the opposition parties is the long list of names that were scratched from the voting papers.

There is also the delays in the start of the counting which is done the next day after voting. There is also the voting slips found in dustbins outside the voting centres.

In a first in Mauritius, the MMM and the PMSD will work together in the opposition platform to contest the polls.

He says the MMM/PTR/PMSD—they are not in an alliance— will work together and seek redress at the supreme court.

The opposition believes those elections won by the MSM-ML-Allies were not free and fair.

They also put into question the credibility of the Electoral Commission.